After a loss to Oklahoma City in late March, Lowry had fluid drained from his banged up elbow.
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Miami hasn’t shot very well from the outside all season. Lowry had seven on 3-of-13 shooting. Lowry has not shot better than 38.1 percent in any of his eight games this postseason and stayed in the gym after finishing up with his media responsibilities on Tuesday to shoot jumpers.BUZZER BEATERS1.
Kyle Lowry is living in some kind of nightmare. Lowry averaged 21.2 points per game during the regular season, but has averaged 13 points per game this postseason.
“I tell him all the time, good or bad, I have the utmost confidence in him”, he said. “So I’ve got to pick this s– up”.
Lowry’s shot was extra impressive because it appeared to be well short, but like a fly ball with the wind blowing out, it kept floating and floating until finally it fell through the net.
Valanciunas ended the night with 24, while DeMar DeRozan had 22. DeRozan and Valanciunas combined for 18 points during the spurt. A three from Terrence Ross, some missed free throws, a steal off an inbound and then, with 3.3 seconds left and no timeouts – Lowry, saviour.
Dragic had 10 third quarter points helping the Heat build a five point lead.
Outside of Cleveland, any matchup in the East is up for grabs. The Miami Heat and Toronto Raptors both have strong teams that could potentially push the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
As both teams head into Game 2 with a huge opportunity at hand – the Heat to all but end Toronto’s ECF hopes and the Raptors chance at clawing their way back into this series – here are the three biggest takeaways from Miami’s big Game 1 victory.
The Heat have an experienced team that has been in playoff series like this.
The Raptors are also benefiting from not having to share television time with a Canadian NHL team this post-season. Regardless of the season, Lowry has not performed up to standards.
“I saw that. Like I’ve said, nobody respects us, everybody has written us off, and that’s fine”, Casey said. “It’s like a hitter”.
“Just like a hitter (in baseball), hitters go through slumps. He’s there, but we have to believe in him, we do believe in him, and he’s going to come out of it”.
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While the Trail Blazers were going seven consecutive possessions without a point, the Warriors got two baskets from Curry’s replacement, Shaun Livingston, in a 10-0 burst that put Golden State in command at 104-95 with 1:47 to go. He also discusses Kyle Lowry’s struggling with his shot, but contributing in all other ways. He took over the game in overtime. By his own admission, he passed up “a ton of shots” because of his lack of success. “The poor shooting, I think that’s what it did to me tonight”. For a few brief minutes, Lowry had the Shot.
