Lowry expects to sit Game 4 against Cavs
Injured guard’s long-term future with Raptors is as uncertain as game-day status
Downcast would be an appropriate way to describe Kyle Lowry as he leaned back in the chair, his immediate future cloudy, his distant future very much up in the air.
He doesn’t know if he’ll play for the Toronto Raptors on Sunday — he doesn’t know if he’ll play for the Raptors ever again, for that matter — and a pall has been cast over not only the injured point guard but the entire organization.
“I’m probably doubtful,” Lowry said Saturday of the prospect of playing Sunday when the Raptors try to stave off NBA playoff elimination at the hands of the Cleveland Cavaliers. “Hopefully some things change, but right now, I don’t think I’ll be able to play.”
Without Lowry and his sprained left ankle, Toronto’s chances of extending the best-of-seven series to five games diminish greatly; with him, they would need to be nearly perfect to win.
Only the most cockeyed optimist would give the Raptors the slightest chance to beat the Cavaliers on Sunday; and few would give them chance to come all the way back. And a Game 4 loss will not only put a lid on what has been a good but not great season, but immediately turn he attention to president Masai Ujiri and the handful of crucial decisions he faces.
Lowry, Patrick Patterson, Serge Ibaka and P.J. Tucker are all free agents in July and there is no chance all four will be back, making Sunday’s game likely the last time they will be teammates.
It might have been the unspoken theme of Saturday’s off-day, with everyone saying the right things about the series not being over until it’s officially over, and playing for pride and the home fans. But there was an aroma of change in the air.
The players, the coaches and management all realize that Sunday could be the swan song for this iteration of the franchise, even if they don’t want to talk about it openly.
“If I thought about it, if I didn’t, it wouldn’t make a difference,” DeMar DeRozan said. “I still got to play the waiting game and see what happens.
“I just never dwell on it. I understand whatever happens, happens, whatever’s gonna come, is gonna come. I always been that way, you know, forever . . . I’m just worried about walking out of here and walking across that court and going to the locker room. I couldn’t tell you nothing else from there.”
The conflict between wondering what lies ahead in the next 10 weeks and what has to be done in the next day has to be difficult for the Raptors to deal with. No team in NBA history has fought back from a 3-0 deficit to win a playoff series and a series loss will certainly lead to some measure of summer dismantling.
“They have put in a lot of sweat equity to get here,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey said. “It will hurt everybody all summer if we don’t come out and hold onto the rope together. Win, lose, or draw, you have to come out and compete your behinds off like you did (Friday) for longer periods of time. Whether it is hard or not, it shouldn’t be hard because we have 15 professionals in the locker room who understand the moment. They understand what is at stake.”
So they take a baby step on a long and impossible road, with the monster named LeBron James waiting to ambush them at some point along the way. But they have a chance, and a chance is all they want to stave off what so many are thinking about.
“As long as you understand that you have an opportunity, you can focus in on that,” De Rozan said. “Whatever comes after that, then you dwell on whatever comes after that. As long as you have an opportunity, (you’re) good.”