Lowry closes in on best-before-playoffs date

Raptors guard is participating in drills but still hesitant to return before wrist is healed

INDIANAPOLIS— Kyle Lowry is doing basketball things, which is better than him not doing basketball things, but it doesn’t mean a return to active duty is next.

The Toronto Raptors point guard, five weeks removed from surgery on his right wrist, hasn’t put a timetable on his return but it will have to come soon if he’s going to get any on-court action in before the NBA playoffs begin.

Lowry has already ruled out playing here on Tuesday night against the Pacers, which leaves one week and four games for him to participate in. The Raptors, trying to hold off Washington to remain third in the Eastern Conference, play at Detroit on Wednesday, home against Miami on Friday and finish the season with road games Sunday in New York and April 12 in Cleveland.

Lowry offered no real insight about when he would play — or even if he would before the playoffs start — but there’s no doubt he is getting closer.

He’s doing some light shooting and dribbling, getting in lots of cardio work and he went through some oncourt situations with his teammates on Monday in what was more a walkthrough than a full-fledged practice.

“I’ve dribbled a ball,” Lowry told reporters Monday. “I haven’t been going through four-hour workouts or game-type situations, but I’ve been able to shoot.

“I’ve just been doing what I have to do to make sure my wrist is strong enough. It gets fatigued quick, so I just want to make sure my wrist is right.”

While Lowry admits to being “a little bored,” he also said he’s a little sore, which will be a contributing factor to whenever he plays. He said he will make the ultimate decision after consulting with the Raptors’ medical staff and the doctor who did the operation in New York.

“At the end of the day, you’re getting cut open, you’re getting dug into, you’re getting bones scraped, you’re getting things taken out, it’s surgery,” Lowry said. “Surgery doesn’t just go pain-free after surgery. I want to make sure I’m pretty much fully healthy and ready to go before I’m ready to step on the floor and help the guys.”

The Raptors have more than held their own with Lowry on the sideline. The team is14-6 in the games he has missed since the late-February surgery — 15-6 without him if you include in an early February day of rest — and has a one-game lead on Washington for third. DeMar DeRozan has morphed into a skilled offensive facilitator as well as the team’s best scorer, Serge Ibaka gives them scoring punch at power forward they didn’t have the first two-thirds of the season and the team’s defence has been among the best in the NBA since the all-star break.

“Our team is clicking on all cylinders,” Lowry said. “The defensive effort is there, the offensive effort is there. It’s been fun to watch, it’s pretty entertaining. I’m bored; as a basketball player wanting to play . . . but other than that I’m enjoying watching these guys get these wins.”