Kyle Lowry’s struggles continue in Raptors loss to Warriors

TORONTO – Over the last year Kyle Lowry been described as a whole lot more than the Raptors starting point guard.

He’s often been referred to as the team’s heartbeat, the engine that drives the offence, someone who on multiple occasions has shown the ability to will Toronto to victories.

Two weeks after making his first appearance in the NBA All-Star Game however, Lowry finds himself stuck in a funk, struggling to find the game that's helped him lead the Raptors to second place in the Eastern Conference.

“I’m trash,” he told reporters in Toronto Thursday after shooting a combined 29.7 per cent in three-straight losses on the road.

Then Friday he put forth another performance to forget.

The 28-year-old scored just four points on 1-of-7 shooting as the Raptors were blown out by the Western Conference leading Golden State Warriors 113-89.

“When you’re losing like that it kind of sucks the life out of you a little bit,” a visibly discouraged Lowry said after the game. “You just have to find some things to get the love and passion back out there.”

While it’s easy to highlight Lowry’s struggles during a point in time when the Raptors as a whole aren’t performing, there have been noticeable inconsistencies in his game since early January.

Lowry shot a combined 45 per cent from the field in November and December yet has only been shooting at a 36.5 per cent clip over the last two months. He’s also averaging fewer free throw attempts and turning the ball over more than he was the first 30-plus game of the season.

The extra load he was forced to take on over the 21 games that DeMar DeRozan was sidelined with a groin injury may be finally catching up to him.

“It’s a concern because it’s fatigue driven,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said after the loss when asked how worried he is about Lowry’s play. “He’s got aches and pains that are bothering him so we’re going to have to find a way to either get him some rest or get him healthy.”

Lowry was far from the team’s only problem Friday, however.

DeRozan, who’s battling through an offensive slump of his own, shot just 4-of-16 from the field and the Raptors as a whole made just one field goal in the first quarter, setting a new franchise record for offensive ineptness.

And though Casey described his team’s defence in the first half as ‘decent,’ he was alarmed by the fact that the Raptors gave up 44 points in the third quarter alone to eliminate any marginal hopes of getting themselves back into the game. Steph Curry and Klay Thompson, who finished 25 points and 22 points respectively, each had 11 in the frame.

“That was a good old fashioned woodshed butt kicking,” Casey said. “There is no excuse for that type of performance.”

While defence has been a work in progress for the Raptors all season, Casey did his best to reinvigorate the team’s offence, which has been one of the league’s worst in terms of efficiency in February, by inserting Patrick Patterson into the starting lineup in place of Amir Johnson. Many have been calling on Casey to make that change to the Raptors lineup for some time, but the switch appeared to be a non-factor against the Warriors with Patterson finishing the game with just four points in nearly 22 minutes.

The good news for the Raptors is the loss brings an end to a difficult eight-game stretch that saw them go a respectable 4-4 against a handful of the league’s top teams and a game Saturday night against the Knicks means the Raptors can quickly put this loss behind them rather than letting it linger for a few days.

“We’re in a funk right now and we’ve got to get out of it,” Casey said. “The league isn’t going to feel sorry for us, we can’t feel sorry for ourselves, we just have to dig our way out of it. The only way we’re going to do it is grind it, stay together, stay positive and keep swinging.”