The heart and intelligence of the Raptors were in the perfect parable of a pass by Kyle Lowry

At some point there will be a statue of Kyle Lowry outside the Toronto arena. Maybe he’ll be with the ball after winning the title, because he always finds the ball in those great moments. Maybe he’ll be the one to take charge, to fall backwards, knowing that he will get up again, perhaps with an inscription like his quote last night, after crushing his knee in a very private area: “I mean, of course, I had the steel balls. ”

Whatever it is, it will be a piece of how it is remembered here. And every day that becomes clearer and less clear. Because there is more to remember.

“Well, I mean we’ve all seen this guy play this way a lot,” said Raptors manager Nick Nurse one day after Toronto’s 104-103 win over the Boston Celtics in Game 3 of Orlando’s second round. Fla. “OK, maybe it was more spots in the paint than he ever had in the paint in the playoffs. Everything.”

Was: NBA.com’s John Schuhmann pointed out that: 20 points in the paint was more than six feet that Lowry had scored in one of his 1,007 career games.

“But we’ve seen him give this tremendous effort,” Nurse said. “You’ve heard me say many times: I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anyone play harder, in any place I’ve ever coached, or watched a game, or whatever. I know of no better compliments than what I can give the boy. It was all out of sheer will and tenacity. “

One thing about Lowry is that everything is difficult. He wasn’t blessed with height, speed, explosiveness, or elite length. He’s strong, sturdy, and bright, though, and in Game 3 Lowry threw his body at big man Daniel Theis the first time he hit the ball, sending two Celtics down like skittles. It continued all night: Lowry threw his body away from Robert Williams, Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Marcus Smart, Kemba Walker, everyone. Often Lowry made them bounce off.

It was hard. Lowry’s defense – getting to the shooters, pressing on drives, taking an elbow to the chin and a forearm to the face, running against the screens, around the screens – was tough. Marc Gasol once said of Fred VanVleet, I don’t know how his heart fits on his chest. Lowry was the original.

“At the end of the day,” Lowry said, “basketball is about pure heart and extremely hard play.”

Lowry thought about how he will be remembered and how he is perceived, especially in the playoffs. https://www.thestar.com/sports/raptors/opinion/2019/03/25/kyle-lowry-knows-hes-a-playoff-performer-and-the-numbers-back-him-up.html ” All people see is Game 1 of the Orlando series and Game 3 of the Philly series, “he said prior to Game 5 of last year’s Milwaukee series, referring to a 0 for 7 performance against the Magic, and a 2 for 10 one. against the Sixers. In January of this year he said: “I too have been booed in the past. Fans have also asked me to be traded in the past, I traded Lowry for (Andrew) Wiggins, I remember that. I remember everything. “

It’s all been written before: Lowry hasn’t trusted many people since childhood, and the result is his outward sting, his defense, his hard shell. Sometimes, rarely, it could be seen in his play. Eighteen months ago, Masai Ujiri met Lowry before the trade deadline. The team president and point guard hadn’t spoken since DeMar DeRozan moved in for Kawhi Leonard, and something was missing from last year’s Lowry season. Ujiri wanted to make sure Lowry would give it all again. https://www.thestar.com/sports/raptors/opinion/2019/05/26/kyle-lowry-took-his-chip-and-went-all-in-with-the-raptors.html

“(It wasn’t), ‘I’ll trade you if you don’t want to be the one,’ but more, ‘you’re this guy,'” Lowry said last year. “I always feel like I’m always all-in. Honestly. But … it was a conversation of: Look, we want you to be this. Can you be this for us or not? Be who you are. Be the player we want you to be. “

Lowry was everything in the rest of the world. His 26 points in Game 6 of the NBA Finals, at the end of two months with a left thumb that required surgery, was the defining match of his career.

“Obviously he was such an engine for our franchise,” Nurse said after Thursday’s game 3 against Boston, after Lowry had 31 points from 23 shots, along with six rebounds, eight assists, two steals and five fouls for the final 6:56 of the game. “There have been so many amazing regular season performances for him. There have been so many huge ones. You can never, ever, if you are a Raptors fan, forget the start of Game 6 in last year’s finals, ever. He came out and just gave everyone a wave of confidence at the opening tip.

“And I think today, as difficult as he was at times and as frustrated as at times, he continued to fight and play. It has to rank right there. “

Lowry played the final 37:29 against the Celtics, 46:29 in all, at 34. And beyond his intelligence, Lowry put his whole heart into that game on a level that was both familiar and new.

Because after OG Anunoby hit the winner of the game by Lowry’s perfect one-pass parable, on a giant seven-foot-five, he was helped because Lowry realized that without fans, he could step back a few meter, the smile on Lowry’s face was pure. Lowry, for his part, said that passing was nothing, and shooting was everything. He said, “Give OG his flowers,” because he knew there was also a heart under Anunoby’s stone face, and he wanted the child to feel loved.

But first, after the immediate celebration, Lowry sat on the court for a few seconds, laughing like a madman, almost crying, raving, wide open. That was the heart and the desire, pouring out. They could lose this series, because against Boston nothing is easy. This series could be the end of a season as defending champions.

But if nothing else, remember the sheer will of it all. Give Lowry his flowers too. Yet.