TORONTO – Kyle Lowry gave the Toronto Raptors his blood, sweat, and tears to ultimately deliver a championship. He built what is to this point an unmatched legacy in franchise history and status to many as the “GROAT” — greatest Raptor of all time.
For all that, the fans in attendance on Monday, Jan. 12, just wanted to see him for possibly one last time on what will always be his home court at Scotiabank Arena.
As his present team the Philadelphia 76ers cruised to a 115-102 victory in a game they led by as many as 33 points, the Raptors faithful didn’t care about their team’s struggles on this night and instead vociferously began chanting, “We want Lowry! We want Lowry!”
Cajoled by his teammates, Lowry rose from the bench and Sixers head coach Nick Nurse inserted him into the game for the final couple minutes — all the 39-year-old can handle as he serves the team primarily as a mentor now. It was a poignant moment as Lowry stood over the Raptors logo with hand on heart as Scotiabank Arena adorned him with a thunderous standing ovation.
“I got to experience probably one of the greatest basketball moments of my personal career…” Lowry said after the game. “At the end of the day, I’ll always say they are the greatest fans in the world, to me, how they’ve been supportive of me and my career.
“A lot of the things I’ve accomplished in my career were in front of these fans and that’s why this place is so special to me.”
It’s a story that’s been told a million times and will be told another million times that Lowry wasn’t even supposed to have more than a cup of coffee with the Raptors. He had his bags packed back in December 2013 because of a trade to the New York Knicks that was almost finalized.
That almost is everything for Raptors fans and the organization. As luck would have it, Knicks owner James Dolan reportedly struck down the deal, paranoid of being fleeced in another trade negotiated with former Raptors president Masai Ujiri after it had already happened with Andrea Bargnani.
“That first year, it was excitement for a while, had a good start that season,” Lowry recalled of how his relationship with the fan base evolved during his tenure. “I think they appreciated me and how hard I played. I didn’t know who I was at that time, I was getting to a point [where I knew], and I don’t think they knew who I was — as a fan base — they continued to support and show love. I think once I committed to showing I was here for the long-term, I think they got behind me.
“Myself and DeMar [DeRozan], we committed to something special and we tried to build something special and the fan base at that time, once they saw that, they said, ‘OK, we support these guys and they’re our guys.'”
Lowry went on to have nine incredible seasons in Toronto, spearheading a franchise turnaround from cellar dweller to perennial playoff team to contender and ultimately a champion. He left it all out there on the floor on a nightly basis, becoming the heart and soul of the team. Lowry’s superpower is the rare, elite ability to study and understand the most subtle nuances of his craft like a Sommelier in Bordeaux yet he was still able to channel his inner construction worker to go out there with his hard hat and all the elbow grease necessary to do whatever it took to get the day’s job done.
“He can’t help himself but compete,” Nurse, head coach of the 2019 champion Raptors, said of Lowry. “When the game starts and he gets going, I always used to say I’d be so amazed that in a 90-second flurry, he could make four plays — flying into the bleachers to save a ball and then come down and knock somebody over and lay it in, then take a charge, and then the whole team’s feeling that squirrel of energy and toughness.
“That’s an amazing, amazing trait which I always think of Kyle as.”
The game on Sunday was a first of a back-to-back between the Raptors and 76ers. It ultimately also became a virtual tribute to the essence of Lowry. It was a tough, grind-it-out game that the Raptors won with heart, hustle, and incredible smarts in the clutch by the man who is now tasked with shepherding Toronto’s basketball franchise forward.
Scottie Barnes, after making a free-throw to give the Raptors a 116-115 lead with 0.8 seconds remaining in overtime, intentionally missed the second to kill time and secure the win. What made Barnes’ instinctive strategy special wasn’t just that he missed the free-throw, but how he caught everyone off guard with how quickly he shot it.
Nurse had his mouth ajar, stunned he wouldn’t have the opportunity to draw up a final play, and the referees seemed to be caught off guard as well. It’s the type of play that, while Lowry might have felt some level of frustration over his team losing to, is exactly the type of genius he was praised for showing throughout his time as a Raptor.
“Personally, I think he’s really good at basketball,” Lowry said of Barnes. “I think he’s probably one of the most talented basketball players. He plays within the system, he plays within the game, doesn’t force anything. When you’ve got a guy like that whose brain works fast, sees things before they happen, 6’10”, whatever amount of pounds (237lbs.), he’s very unselfish.
“He’s a championship calibre type of player. When you’ve got a guy like that, that your franchise is based around, it’s a really good starting point and a really good point to have. The sky really is the limit for his abilities and I look forward to watching him and continuing to watch him.”
Look at the Raptors roster beyond Barnes, and Jamal Shead can be seen drawing offensive fouls just as Lowry once did. Then you also have Alijah Martin scrapping to give Toronto an extra possession any way he can, and Collin Murray-Boyles using his combination of both great brawn and brain to impact games at a level far beyond the average rookie.
Tyrese Maxey, now a budding superstar for the Sixers, said Lowry’s ovation almost brought him to tears. When speaking of the Raptors, he waxed lyrical about how the current iteration of the team plays in Lowry’s spirit. That is a degree of impact that is above and beyond what most will ever achieve with an organization. It’s why Lowry fully intends on signing a one-day contract with the Raptors when he does feel certain it’s the end of the road so he can retire with the franchise he’s most beloved by.
It feels fitting that, if this is indeed Lowry’s final game, it’s come with the organization possibly at the start of a new winning cycle and all the players he helped grow during his time in Toronto having established strong footholds elsewhere.
As Barnes leads a Raptors team fourth in the East halfway through the season, Pascal Siakam helped lead the Indiana Pacers to the NBA Finals last season, Fred VanVleet played a key role in inculcating a winning culture in Houston, OG Anunoby is a crucial piece for the contending New York Knicks, and Norman Powell is an all-star candidate in Miami.
Lowry has ever been a man of understanding the moment. He made a habit of snagging the game ball after special occasions, whether it be to hand over to teammates for special achievements like Fred VanVleet’s franchise-record 54-point outing or his own cherished moments like when the Raptors clinched the NBA title in Oakland. On this occasion, he dribbled out the clock, and in as big a clue as any that this was a moment to remember, he hung tight to the game ball as his teammates embraced him.
When the time comes, Lowry will become a Hall-of-Famer. He will also have his jersey retired by the Raptors organization, joining Vince Carter as the only players in franchise history to be bestowed with the honour. Not a man to cry, Lowry acknowledged just how special moment that would be.
“If it does, it’ll be a super emotional day. I put a lot of blood, sweat, and tears into that ‘7’ and to know that it probably won’t be worn ever again would be pretty special.
“I think that’s something for my basketball legacy that would be pretty, pretty, pretty cool.”