Ten seasons into his NBA career, returning home never gets old for Kyle Lowry.
The Philadelphia native still relishes being able to compete on the court in which he watched his childhood favorite Allen Iverson play, now doing the same as an All-Star point guard himself.
When Lowry came to town with the Raptors on Saturday night to take on the Sixers, there was a sense he would go for a big night. With 50 friends and family members in the stands, he was ready to turn up his game.
“His give-a-crap level is pretty high,” head coach Dwane Casey said before the game. “It’s always high, but it’s a little extra high when he comes home.”
Lowry, who attended Cardinal Dougherty High School and Villanova University, lived up to the expectations. He led the team with 25 points (10 for 17 FG) along with six rebounds and five assists in the Raptors' 108-95 win (see game story). It was his career-high in scoring at the Wells Fargo Center.
“I just feel like when I come home I’ve got to make sure my team wins the game,” he said after the victory.
The Sixers trailed the Raptors by as many as 15 points in the third quarter. When they cut the deficit to only four points early into the fourth, Lowry snapped into veteran go-to mode.
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He hit a running jumper to push the Raptors' lead up to six, drew a foul and nailed a pair of free throws, and then found Patrick Patterson for a three. Just over a minute later, the Raptors were back up by 11. Lowry finished with 10 points and three assists in the fourth quarter.
“That’s an All-Star for you,” former teammate Ish Smith said. “I was with Kyle in Houston [on the Rockets]. I’m so proud of what he’s doing and his leadership. He just made a big play, because if he wouldn’t have made that play, we come down and cut it to two, now it’s a ballgame, it’s a two-point game and we’ve got the crowd going. He made three big plays and before you know it, we were down 10 or 11.”
Lowry has been coming up big for the Raptors since joining the team in 2012. Last season he earned his first All-Star selection as the Raptors continued to rise as Eastern Conference contenders. This season he is averaging career highs with 20.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game while dishing 6.4 assists. He is tied for second among all players in steals (2.3 per game) and ranks fifth among all point guards in scoring. Along with DeMar DeRozan, Lowry is part of a talented backcourt that presents multi-faceted challenges while both averaging over 36 minutes per game.
“That’s a playoff team and that might be a deep playoff team,” Sixers head coach Brett Brown said following the game.
As a 13-year-old, Lowry had an opportunity to take jump shots at the Wells Fargo Center. Knocking them down as an NBA player brings back the memories of the thrill he felt each time he stepped into the arena.
“It’s still amazing,” he said.