Kyle Lowry's preseason rampage continues with Raps-record 40 in win over Wolves

After an injury-and-illness-plagued end to last season that saw him shoot a dismal 31.6 percent from the floor in a four-game sweep at the hands of the Washington Wizards, Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry entered the offseason intent on turning the page, rebooting and revitalizing himself for what he hopes will be a longer 2015-16 season by rebuilding his body — or, more to the point, by getting rid of a substantial amount of it.

"I was talking to my wife, and she said, 'You were always your best at your college weight,'" Lowry told CBSSports.com's James Herbert last month. "The saying is, the older you get, the lighter you've got to be [...] I want to be special. At the end of the day it's all about me and how I feel and what I can provide for my team and my family."

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Through three tune-up games, the slimmer and trimmer Lowry has provided an awful lot for Dwane Casey's club, including a preseason-record-setting performance against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night:

Lowry might be more committed to watching what he eats these days, but he sure seemed to have a healthy appetite for destruction on Monday. The 2014 All-Star starter had it going from inside and out, hanging a crisp 40 points on Minnesota on stellar 13-for-18 shooting, including a scorching 6-for-9 from 3-point land, and a perfect 8-for-8 mark at the charity stripe in just under 28 1/2 minutes of floor time to lead the Raptors to a 112-105 win over Toronto native Andrew Wiggins' young Wolves on Monday.

Lowry's scoring explosion was the first 40-point preseason performance since 2013, and set a new franchise high-water mark for preseason scoring, topping a 38-point outing turned in by Vince Carter many moons ago. Lowry, as you'd expect, truly relished this remarkable achievement after the game, according to Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun:

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Lowry certainly has started off well, leading the preseason in both per-game scoring (30.3) and total points scored (91 in just 75 minutes) while shooting a blistering 68.3 percent (28-for-41) from the field, 64.7 percent (11-for-17) from 3-point range and 92.3 percent (24-for-26) from the foul line. He's got the ball and the world on a string right now, and all Casey wants is for the good vibes to carry over into live action when the regular season starts in two weeks:

How much Lowry's pistol-hot start to the preseason owes to the offseason transformation that left him looking, in the words of teammate Patrick Patterson, "like the evil twin brother or something" is anybody's guess. Whatever the impetus for Lowry's scorching play, though, the prospect of him producing at something approaching this level in games that count is enough to make you wonder whether this is the season the Raptors can break out of the first round and stake their claim to a seat among the NBA's elite after two straight disappointing finishes.

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“It’s true, I know how bad I played," Lowry said of the negative pieces written about his post-February decline, according to Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star. "But at the end of the day, it is what it is. I want them to say those things, because they’re going to change their minds [from] early [last] year, and it was ‘Oh my god.’ Now I’ve got to go back to making them say ‘Oh my god’ again. That’s all that matters.”

Well, it might only be preseason, but: mission accomplished, Kyle.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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