LOWRY MAKES RAPTORS HISTORY IN WIN
Kyle Lowry became Toronto's all-time leader in assists as the Raptors stretched their win streak to eight games with a 130-114 win over the Atlanta Hawks in Toronto on Tuesday. Lowry had 12 points to go with the 11 assists that pushed him two beyond Jose Calderon’s 3, 770 as the Raptors' all-time assist leader.
The Raptors bench was up and dancing and cheering and waving for a rather nondescript basket near the end of an easy win over a bad opponent on a dreary January eve. That’s the kind of respect Kyle Lowry gets from his teammates.
Lowry finished with 11 assists and 12 points as Toronto drubbed the Atlanta Hawks 130-114 on Tuesday night, etching himself into the franchise record book again. The basket that elicited the reaction was one that made Lowry the alltime assists leader in franchise history, moving him past Jose Calderon for top spot.
Lowry now has 3,772 career assists in 533 Raptors games; Calderon left Toronto having compiled 3,770 assists in 525 games.
“I didn’t have any idea that was what the heck was going on, when he got to No. 9 or whatever it was,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. Lowry was humble. “Yeah, it’s awesome to be able to get it here tonight, in front of the home crowd, in front of Vince (Carter). The longevity … and to pass a guy like Jose, one of the best point guards in franchise history and one of the greats in European basketball … to be able to pass him means a lot.
“We got a win, so that’s even better.”
The No. 1 ranking came two days before another likely honour. Lowry is expected to be named to his sixth NBA all-star game when the reserves are announced Thursday.
Nurse was incredulous at a suggestion some coaches might leave Lowry off their ballots.
“If that guy’s not on an all-star ballot considering the last 18 months, the last six months, and where our team is, that’s unfathomable to me,” Nurse said before the game. “(If) anybody that has decent knowledge of the game or the NBA would keep him off, it wouldn’t make sense to me, it wouldn’t make any sense to me at all. Not even close.”
Pascal Siakam and Serge Ibaka each had 24 points for the Raptors, who established a season-high with their eighth straight win. Fred VanVleet finished with 19. John Collins led Atlanta with 28.
Second-last visit: Two days past his 43rd birthday and now having played a game in Toronto in four decades — the 1990s, 2000s, 2010s and 2020 — Vince Carter had 10 points in his first six minutes on the court. He was also feted with long standing ovation after a video tribute played between the first and second quarters in his penultimate game in Toronto.
He and the Hawks are back at the Scotiabank Arena on April 11 in what will surely be an emotional final farewell. “The next time’s my last,” he said Tuesday morning. “This is the easy one, in my mind.”
Early departure: Marc Gasol, who missed 12 games with a hamstring injury, left Tuesday’s game early in the third quarter. With the ball out of bounds, Gasol didn’t even signal to the bench, leaving immediately for the Raptors locker room. Toronto didn’t have time to even get a substitute in the game and were somehow hit with a technical foul after allowing the ball was inbounded.
Gasol departed with left hamstring tightness, team officials said.
OG Anunoby left a few minutes early with a shoulder issue but he was just wearing an ice bag on it in the locker room.
The Raptors also were without regulars Rondae Hollis-Jefferson (ankle) and Pat McCaw (nose) but Nurse said there is a chance both might play in the coming two-game road trip to Cleveland and Detroit.
Paying tribute: The Raptors had a poignant and touching video tribute to Kobe Bryant before the game and a 24 seconds of silence for the late Lakers star.
And the teams finally got a chance for another special moment. There had been plans to light the scoreboard in purple if the Raptors got to 8, 24 or 81 points in the game. The Hawks hit 81 late in the third quarter and the normally white scoreboard number turned Laker purple.
Bryant wore No. 8 and 24 in his 20-year career and scored 81 points in a 2002 game against Toronto.
Bryant routinely lit up the Raptors, shooting 47.1 per cent from the floor against them, a higher percentage than against any other Lakers opponent.
Up next: The all-star reserves are announced just after 7 p.m. on Thursday, at which time Lowry will be leading the Raptors against the Cavaliers in Cleveland.