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Raptors' Kyle Lowry needs a big bounce-back game

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TORONTO

Kyle Lowry has been down this road before. A slow start to a series for his team. A slow star to the series for him personally.

A crappy, some might suggest sleepless night based on his demeanour Sunday morning follows.

It’s not quite groundhog day, but it is now four years in a row for this scenario. It was bad that first season in Brooklyn. Worse the second year vs. Washington. Still bad versus Indiana last season and now worst of all versus Milwaukee.

But what hasn’t changed is the response that is expected from him. Somehow, some way, Lowry, the Raptors most important player, has to get back to setting the tone for his team with his scoring and his playmaking.

One is not going to be enough, not with the Bucks having the seemingly bottomless pit of scoring they can call on in Giannis Antetokounmpo. No, Lowry is going to have to find the game he had going back in December and January when he was averaging almost 25 points a night and seven assists.

History suggest Lowry won’t get back to that level right away, but his team has responded twice in three times after similar slow starts in recent years.

Lowry himself has taken moderate steps forward after Game 1 struggles each of the past three years. Against Brooklyn he rallied from a five turnover game in the opener to score 18 and limit the turnovers to just two in Game 2. It wasn’t great the following year against Washignton when he fouled out of the series opener and then returned for just six points in the only loss of a Game 2 the past three years.

Last season against Indy Lowry went just 2-for-9 in the opener and returned in Game 2 to give the Raptors 14 points and nine boards in a win.

The improvements are marginal but key given how instrumental Lowry is in everything the Raptors do.

“It sounds like a yearly song we sing but we’re going to go as he and DeMar goes and he’s gotta be aggressive no matter what the defence is doing,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said of his point guard.

Lowry attempted just 11 shots, making just two. He was 0-for-6 from behind the arc. He did have six assists in the game but the minus-22 beside his name left little doubt that he was outplayed and outplayed badly by the rookie running the point for the Bucks in Malcolm Brogdon.

Lowry didn’t need to see the numbers to know he wasn’t effective.

“Every shot I took was contested or ran off,” Lowry said. “They did a good job. They gameplanned really well for us. That’s one thing about the playoffs, teams are gonna gameplan for me and DeMar. We gotta figure out ways to make tough shots or everybody else gotta help us, we gotta get other guys to get even more open looks.”

It’s about here where there seems to be a difference of opinion.

His coach and by extension his teammates according to Lowry are telling him he has to be more aggressive and shoot more than he did in Game 1.

Lowry sounds like he will comply but grudgingly.

“Every time I (used) a screen, I had four arms around me,” Lowry said “Put it this way: I guess I’m (going to) have to force shots. My teammates want me to be more aggressive, so I’m (going to) have to force some more shots. Simple as that. Because I felt like I made the right passes (Saturday) night, but my teammates, I guess I’ll be forcing more shots, put it that way. You got four arms on you, but I gotta be more aggressive.”

Casey said it’s not just Lowry he needs to be more aggressive and forceful in everything he does in the game. It’s his whole team. But he wasn’t backing down from the fact that he thought Lowry passed up some shots with or without all the attention he was getting.

“There were a few times, it wasn’t like it was a whole bunch, but there were a few times he could have turned the corner and got to the paint, caused another problem, kickout,” Casey said. “But overall, it just wasn’t Kyle, it was everybody, all of us. We just didn’t play at a level to deserve to win that game. We didn’t play with playoff intensity. We played like it was a mid-season game in February. You’re not going to win in this league playing with that kind of intensity, force.”

P.J. Tucker, a guy who has made his career playing forceful basketball packed with intensity said the rest of the Raptors can help Lowry simply by playing harder.

“We can run the floor on offence better, flow better,” Tucker said. “I think a lot of times Kyle is getting out, pushing, and we weren’t back on offence yet. Everybody getting to spots, cutting harder, screening harder, playing harder period will make Kyle’s life a lot easier.”

MAKER MAKIN' A NAME FOR HIMSELF

The Greek Freak had plenty of the Raptors’ attention the day after he orchestrated a Game 1 win for the Bucks, but he was not the only member of the Bucks to get special attention.

Thon Maker, a 19-year-old kid just a year out of high school at nearby Orangeville Prep had a pretty solid night himself with three blocks in just 15 minutes of run.

“He’s shown the ability to block shots, that’s for sure,” Raps forward P.J. Tucker said. “He covered the rim last night pretty well in the second half, he runs the floor really well and he’s really good in that scheme. I think he spaced the floor, we’ve seen him make shots, so he’s been pretty versatile for them. He’s won that spot with them so we’ve got to respect him and he’s somebody we definitely have to take out.”

Tucker said he didn’t play at all like a rookie.

“No, but (Bucks’ head coach) Jason Kidd has all their young guys not playing like rookies,” Tucker said. “(Point guard Malcolm) Brogdon, him, they all come in and they play like they’ve played in the playoffs for years. It’s amazing how hard he’s got those guys playing.”

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