We don’t normally throw up post-game quotes just as they are, but Kyle Lowry’s comments following Sunday’s frustrating loss to the Detroit Pistons were interesting – and biting – enough to warrant sharing. We’ll post the video when it’s up on YouTube in a bit, but here’s the transcription of Lowry’s post-game chat. I’ve bolded the most interesting pieces:
(Execution down stretch. What went wrong?)
Huh. Everything. Everything. Keep putting in the same situations over and over and not being successful, something gotta give, something gotta change.
(Any idea what?)
I have an idea but I’mma keep my mouth shut, keep it professional.
(Getting worried?)
Yeah. I am. I’m starting to get worried, yeah. It’s not going the way we’re supposed to be going and things aren’t changing, so yeah, I’m starting to get worried.
(Fixable in the room?)
I don’t know. We ain’t got no choice but to go out here and work as hard as we possibly can for each other in this locker room.
(Scheme? Personnel?)
At the end of the day, we gotta play harder I guess. I guess that’s what will be said. We gotta got out there and find ways to execute down the stretch.
(Couldn’t stop it?)
Yeah. They made great adjustments. They made very good adjustments. Tobias Harris played very well, and they did a good job of adjusting and making plays against us.
DeMar DeRozan didn’t exactly hold back on his feelings, either:
Pretty bad, they kind of got everything they wanted every time down.
(Good for three quarters?)
It’s been like that lately. We have to put 48 minutes together.
(Do you know what has to change?)
Nah. Something.
(Can they get out of it?)
We can, but we have to be quick. 27 more games, that’s going to fly by. We don’t have much time. When it comes to practice time, you know, we have to be able to take things on the go and run with it.
(Do they need help?)
I mean, help is always beneficial. I never look at help as a negative thing at all. So if help is an option, why not?
Also of note from after the game, I asked Dwane Casey about the play call on the final possession, and he had this to say:
It was a play we’ve run in the past for DeMar. He pump-faked … I have to look at it on film to see if he got contact or not, usually vaulted up and makes that shot but the defender did a good job of staying down, staying on his feet, not leaving his feet.
So, yeah, that was the call. (DeRozan added that he had the option to drive and that Lowry was coming off a pin-down elsewhere, but the replays show the typical inactivity and telegraphing of the play.)
And given the comments from Lowry and DeRozan, it’s hard not to wonder if there’s some tension between roster and staff, or if the prolonged losing stretch is at least leading to some finger-pointing or blame assignment. Everyone chose their words very carefully, but there is some subtext there to sort out over the next little while.
Sorry for the lack of additional context – on post-game duty, so just dropping these now quickly for you. Take them how you will.
