Kyle Lowry ended 2014 with a bang. Forced into an even bigger role with the Raptors in the absence of the injured DeMar DeRozan, Lowry played well enough to be named the NBA Eastern Conference player of the month for December. He’s just the second Raptor to be named player of the month: Chris Bosh got the honour in December, 2007.
Only twice over the past 10 years has a player that was awarded player of the month honours in November, December, and January not been named an All-Star: Zach Randolph in 2010-11 and Chris Webber, who was traded mid-season, in 2004-05. Don’t expect Lowry to join that short list. The Raptors’ point guard has been playing at an All-Star level all season and he elevated his game when DeRozan, an All-Star last year, went down.
Lowry Named Eastern Conference Player of the Month | Toronto Raptors
Lowry posted averages of 22.3 points, 8.9 assists and 4.2 rebounds in 15 games last month and help the Raptors to an 11-4 record. He shot .463 (119-for-257) from the field and .405 (30-for-74) from three-point range. Lowry led Eastern Conference players in scoring through the first week of December with 29.3 points and was named Player of the Week. He was the only player in the NBA to average 20.0+ points and 8.5 assists in December. Highlighting Lowry’s month was a career-high 39-point performance December 3 in a 123-104 win at Utah. It was one of three 30-point scoring nights posted by Lowry, all on the road. He also recorded a season-high 14 assists December 9 at Cleveland and matched a career high with six steals December 14 at New York. Lowry scored a team-best 25 points December 27 against the L.A. Clippers, snapping the Clippers’ eight-game home winning streak. Through 33 games this season Lowry is averaging a career-best 20.7 points, 7.7 assists and 4.8 rebounds. He has led the Raptors in scoring 12 times and posted nine double-doubles.
Kyle Lowry Wins Eastern Conference Player of the Month | Raptors Rapture
With co-star DeMar DeRozan out for the entire month of December, Lowry has had to put the team on his back some night to get out with a W. It hasn’t always been easy for Lowry, but he has met his challenges with a Sensei-like level of focus. It seems like nothing has been able to distract Lowry on the court, regardless of whether fouls have been called for him or against him. While playing against a seemingly endless collection of elite point guards in the last fifteen games (Chris Paul, Damian Lillard, Steph Curry, etc…), Lowry has never backed down.
Toronto Raptors’ road trip reveals team’s defence is broken | National Post
The hope is that DeMar DeRozan’s return to the lineup from a groin injury, coming against Charlotte on Thursday, will help. The Raptors were 28th in defence while DeRozan was out, ahead of only the abysmal Knicks and Timberwolves, and it was clear that some players were overextended in his absence. The Raptors also took pains to give Lowry some rest on defence while he was out, such as when he guarded P.J. Tucker instead of point-guard dynamos Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic, on Sunday. There was a trickle-down effect created by DeRozan’s injury that the Raptors never really figured out how to account for, at least on defence. That is worrisome in itself, though. Ross showed a little offensive progression, but he remains shy of being the consistently above-average perimeter defender that the Raptors want him to be. Not many players can keep Suns speedster Bledsoe in front of them, but he burned Ross often on Sunday. Across the board, the crux of the Raptors’ defensive struggles has been an inability to keep a ball-handler out of the paint. Unless you have a Dwight Howard, Roy Hibbert or Serge Ibaka, that is tough problem to fix.
Road-weary Raptors welcome comforts of home | Toronto Star
“It is what it is. We lost some games we could have won. We won some games that were good wins but we didn’t build off it,” was point guard Kyle Lowry’s assessment after the Raptors were manhandled 125-109 by the Suns Sunday night. The Raptors need to shake off the losses (which came with DeMar DeRozan sidelined by injury) and look to get a spark at home, added Lowry, voted the Eastern Conference player of the month for December. “We can’t dwell on it. It’s a tough stretch and without our all-star, it caught up to us a little bit. But we have a few games where we have to make up for it on the home floor,” said Lowry.
Returning home, Raptors must regroup after long trip | TSN
Much of this uncertainty can be attributed to the absence of DeRozan, who has missed over five weeks’ worth of games with a torn tendon in his groin, but is expected to be back in uniform when the Raptors return to the court at home to the Hornets on Thursday. Toronto has gone 11-7 without its leading scorer – 10-1 against sub-.500 competition, but just 1-6 versus winning teams over that stretch. The Raptors have lost three games by 10 points or more this season – all of them without DeRozan, with two coming on this trip. They’ve squandered three games in which they held a lead going into the fourth quarter – twice on the trip, all without DeRozan. This is not to say, with any certainty, that he is the sole cause of, or the easy solution to these problems. Even with DeRozan, the Raptors had their share of difficulty against elite competition last season (they were 16-25 against winning clubs), prone to late-game offensive droughts similar to the ones that spelled recent disaster in losses to the Bulls and Blazers. If nothing else, getting DeRozan back should help decipher whether or not these are big-picture concerns.
Toronto Raptors Segment For SportsNet Tonight | Hoops Addict
I joined Roger Lajoie tonight to chat about the Toronto Raptors. We talked about DeMar DeRozan’s return to the team this week, Toronto’s tough road trip and if Masai Ujiri needs to make any trades.
A Look At The Race For The Top Seed In The East, And Where The Raptors Stand | Raptors HQ
So, what would be the ideal seeding to finish at? It seems like a strange question since the number one seed guarantees home court throughout the East playoffs, but I’d venture to say any of the top-four teams would prefer to avoid the Cavaliers in the first round, and if possible, avoid the bracket that would set up a potential second round matchup with the Bulls. The Cavs have been a mess on the defensive end so far this season, and have a very thin roster. But if they hit the playoffs healthy, they still have LeBron James, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love. I would personally prefer to face off against a younger team like the Milwaukee Bucks, or a team with much less talent overall like Brooklyn.
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