It’s totally not, and I can’t believe you clicked on an article with that title.
When a back injury is described using “twisted the wrong way”, you know it’s not going to be a 2-5 day recovery period, which is what the Raptors fear the most. Now the Raptors doctors are running tests on his back trying to figure out what the problem is. Their attempts to bring back Lowry back into the lineup against Detroit backfired after 10 minutes, as Lowry left the game and never returned, leaving the club in a very precarious position moving forward.
Lowry’s set of injuries have been snowballing since quite some time now, and partially it has to do with the minutes he’s played (he’s still 400 minutes ahead of Patterson for #1 in minutes on the team). Partially, though, it has to do with Lowry’s role on the team. The Raptors offense demands so much of Lowry and DeMar DeRozan individually, and their usage rates are so high, that the rigours of play are bound to catch up with them. Combine this with Dwane Casey’s inability to stagger or manage minutes for his players (e.g., playing them in garbage time late in Chicago with the team down 20), and this should be expected.
At least this time around, Lowry understands that he needs to be fully 100% before attempting another return:
“I’m [going to] make sure I’m completely and fully healthy before I even step back on the floor”.
Greivis Vasquez will likely continue to start in place of Lowry, and what he brings as a passer is a slightly greater desire to play pick’ n roll and move the ball early in the clock. The downside of Vasquez is that he’s been absolutely abysmal on defense, especially with Dwane Casey has him out there in a three-guard lineup with Terrence Ross and Lou Williams.
With 10 games left, the chances of a fully healthy and in-tune Lowry starting the playoffs are low. To make matters worse, the Raptors are playing their worst basketball of the season at precisely the wrong time. It’ll take nothing short of a small miracle for Dwane Casey to implement any sort of approach that is likely to be effective in such a short duration of time. The only positive here is that our likely playoff opponent, Washington, aren’t exactly playing great and have lost four straight. This is also the team who the Raptors swept in the regular season, but as I’m told by many, they’re “built for the playoffs”.
If you have any tips on how to enjoy the last 10 games, let me know.
