The Toronto Raptors never lost confidence in struggling All-Stars Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan—mostly because they trust their talents, partly because it's too late to completely rework the offensive pecking order.
That trust was rewarded early and often Wednesday night during the Raptors' 99-91 Game 5 win over the visiting Miami Heat.
DeRozan erupted for 34 points, six more than he tallied in Games 3 and 4 combined. And for the first time during the 2016 NBA playoffs, he connected on half of his field-goal attempts (11-of-22).
Lowry's outing needed a closer inspection to be fully appreciated.
He didn't clear the 40 percent mark (9-of-25) and did finish with the same number of shots and points (25 apiece). But his floor game was superb (10 rebounds, six assists and three steals). His crunch-time shooting kept the Heat at arm's length and Toronto's wild on/off split with Lowry fully encapsulated his value (plus-25 with him, minus-17 without).
"They made shots," Dwyane Wade said, per Raptors Republic's Blake Murphy. "They're All-Star players. They're gonna get going at som ...
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Article written by Zach Buckley
Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan Finding Momentum at the Right Time for Toronto Raptors
May 11th, 2016 by Zach Buckley Leave a reply »
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