Down 2-0 in their series against the Cleveland Cavaliers already, things could be even tougher for the Toronto Raptors on Friday night as they look to settle things down with a win at the Air Canada Centre. While memories of last year’s two home wins in this same situation still resonate and prove the series isn’t worth writing off just yet, the Raptors’ ability to defend their home court is called into question if they’re not going to be firing on all cylinders.
Enter the status of Kyle Lowry’s injured left ankle. Or exit it, perhaps.
Lowry missed practice Thursday in order to undergo further testing after injuring the ankle in the third quarter of Game 2 on Wednesday. While no news of the results is good news – there’s nothing structurally wrong and Lowry is “only” dealing with a sprain, his status for Game 3 remains up in the air. Lowry spoke to media at shootaround to update his status.
“I’m alright, I’ll see how I feel a little bit later,” Lowry said. “It’s still pretty sore but I’ll see how I feel tonight before the game and make a game-time decision. I’m not a big sweller, so that helps, but at the same time, that doesn’t really matter. See how I feel, see how the ankle feels and go from there. I have to be able to go out there and play, play defense, run up and down, make cuts. The making cuts part will be the most difficult part.”
He went on to explain that he rolled his ankle inward rather than outward, which is a unique sprain to him. It’s also higher up on the ankle, although it’s not the dreaded “high ankle sprain” that can take weeks to recover from. It’s not a standard sprain, but it’s nothing that’s ruling him out for sure, though the Raptors are obviously preparing in the event that Lowry can’t go.
“He and DeMar (DeRozan) are both our hubs,” head coach Dwane Casey explained. “They’re the key to our team, and I’ve said it a lot, the way they go is the way we go. And we’re a different team. But again, I have all the confidence in the world in Cory Joseph. Cory had a big game the other night, and very capable. Like I say, of all the players on our team, he’s won a championship. He knows how hard it is to win a championship. So he’s very capable if Kyle can’t go.”
Joseph might be capable, but the Raptors need everything working to beat the Cavaliers, and a potential Lowry absence looms large.
For what it’s worth, Lowry told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical earlier Friday morning that he was still undergoing treatment and his status was up in the air, so it would seem there’s no information being hidden here. Wojnarowski, remember, had the scoop on Lowry’s extension a few years back, as well as the timeline for Lowry’s return from wrist surgery, so if the information were out there, Wojnarowski is the guy who would have it. The Raptors have talked and looked like a team preparing for life without their point guard the last two days.
I wrote more about the potential impact of Lowry’s absence (or being hobbled) over at The Athletic yesterday.
Norm isn’t having it
For those who have been waiting for some kind of response from the Raptors after the Cavaliers have spent the first two games somewhere between having fun and clowning them, that might be coming Friday. Casey outlined the spin, the fake beer-sipping, and the off-backboard alley-oop as reasons the team should be fired up.
“If people are gonna use the word we got dominated, that should get your hair up on your neck a little bit to get you upset a little bit,” Casey said. “All of those things should get you upset to compete, not to compete but to make it a physical contest…In a smart way, I don’t wanna get anybody thrown out or suspended or anything like that. But yeah, you should be Td off and upset that somebody’s using the word dominant, that you got dominated.”
Consider Norman Powell among those who didn’t take too kindly to the antics, although everyone on the Raptors has more or less admitted that it’s on them to make sure Cleveland can’t do those things.
“It doesn’t matter,” Powell said of the Cavs’ respect level. “We can’t allow that type of freedom, that type of comfortability with him or any other player, to be able to spin the ball like that. It’s disrespectful, but it shows us that we’re playing too soft. We need to come out with a mentality and a physicality and a force on both ends that says that you’re not gonna get anything easy. It shouldn’t have happened. We can’t let that type of stuff happen in the series. It stops tonight.”
Losing by 33 points over two games isn’t great, obviously, but the Raptors still believe in their ability to respond from here. The Cavaliers, too, have been talking up how the Raptors bounced back a year ago, and it will be interesting to see how Cleveland comes out of the gate. Yes, the Raptors could have and should have responded better in Game 2 and didn’t, so it’s tough to buy into the talk until they show it on the court. A hot start Friday will be paramount to setting the tone and making sure their confidence can be maintained throughout.
“I don’t feel like they’re dominating us, or beat us into submission,” Casey said. “We’ve still got a lot of basketball to be played.”
Notes
- There was a lot of talk of the need for the Raptors to be more selfish taking shots along the perimeter. Firing threes more willingly would appear to be the biggest talking point outside of finding ways to get DeMar DeRozan the ball in more space and more one-on-one scenarios, and the Raptors know they have to let it fly whenever they get breathing room.
- Here’s Lowry on just that: “We just got to shoot the ball, sometimes guys, they feel like they can make the next play, it’s not that they’re scared to take the shot, it’s that they want to make the best play, the better play. I think that’s where the unselfishness of the team comes in. Sometimes you have to be a little bit more selfish.”
- And here’s Casey: “Our 3-point shooters have to be ready to take ‘em, ‘cause there’s a lot of opportunities there and we’re turning down and it’s making it look like they’re taking ‘em away, but we have opportunities to take the three.”
- And Powell: “They’re rotating so much, LeBron’s roaming so much, that we’re trying to go good to great. I passed up a couple looks trying to hit the open man in the corner. We just gotta take those open looks and continue to take ‘em with confidence and continue to get more up.”
- Asked about changing the starting lineup again, Casey offered his usual: “Possibly. We always hold that card, but I’m not going to come in here and give you a scouting report.”
- Today is P.J. Tucker’s birthday. All the real ones, apparently.
- Here’s Tyronn Lue on what he expects from the ACC crowd: “We know it’s going to be crazy. They have a great fan base and the fans are great. We know they play well at home and we know it’s going to be a tough game for us.”
- I’ve been posting some pics and quotes and other things to my Instagram story. Follow along there.
- Related: Here are the shirts they’re giving out for Game 3:
Raptors are keeping the shirt scheme real simple for Game 3. pic.twitter.com/0zOnjbPjUY
— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) May 5, 2017
- Related: Here are the shirts they’re giving out for Game 3:
