Here’s some great news for Toronto Raptors fans as the playoffs draw closer: All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry is out indefinitely after aggravating the back injury he suffered on March 18 against the 16-54 Minnesota Timberwolves.
After having sat out the previous two games – the first a loss to the Chicago Bulls, the second a win over the New York Knicks – Lowry returned to the line-up Tuesday against the 27-44 Detroit Pistons, but was forced to leave the game during the second quarter after his back “twisted the wrong way.” Awesome. First question: why the hell was Kyle Lowry playing in the first play?
Toronto can finish no worse than fourth in the Eastern Conference, which assures them home court in the first round of the playoffs. They’ve slipped behind Chicago, but actually have a better opening round match-up right now against the Washington Wizards who have lost three-in-a-row and look ripe for the picking in the playoffs. That match-up is all yours because you know Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau isn’t going to take his foot off the gas for one second, so why not use the final three weeks of the season to do what all the other smart coaches around the league have learned to do (from Spurs coach Greg Popovich) and get your key contributors some much-needed rest?
Tuesday’s game with Detroit was a nothing game. It didn’t change the standings. It wasn’t a “win this one to get build momentum against a team we could face in the playoffs” match-up. It was a random, late-in-the-season, Tuesday night tip against a non-playoff team. Lowry was already banged up and already missed the previous two contests, so it was the perfect game to just keep him in street clothes and give him one more day of rest. Instead, he dressed, got hurt and is now on the shelf for at least a couple more games, maybe longer.
Second question: why hasn’t Dwane Casey figured all this out already? Seriously?
This is Casey’s fourth season at the helm for the Raptors. They’ve gotten better as a team each season as far as their record is concerned, but it has never felt like it has been because of Casey. If anything, it feels like he is still a big part of what is holding this team back.
Not that the Raptors would make a run to the Finals with a different coach on the sidelines – they don’t have the pieces in place to win the Eastern Conference, yet alone contend with all of the great teams out West – but it feels like there are plenty of coaches out there that would have recognized the position the Raptors are in and figured out that they could afford to play their bench guys heavier minutes in the less important games down the stretch.
Or, you know, all season.
Fans and critics may hate it, but if you’re a team with aspirations of playoff success, it behoves you as a coach to make sure your team gets to that point as fresh and healthy as possible. If that means pissing some people off by sitting your stars and relying on your bench a little more in games that don’t have any real impact, so be it.
Instead, Casey has Lowry and DeMar DeRozan both averaging 34.5 minutes per game (MPG), good for 21st in the league in that category.
Most of the teams that have multiple players in the Top 25 in MPG either have bench issues or are riding a couple players in order to make the playoffs. Toronto has neither of those concerns – they’re cannot finish worse than fourth in the Eastern Conference and are one of the deeper teams in the NBA, so why not ease up on the minutes you’re playing your two most important players?
Think about this: Kyle Lowry plays more minutes per game than Russell Westbrook. The dude that has been on a one-man mission to get the Oklahoma City Thunder into the playoffs plays slightly less than a guy that looked flat for the two weeks prior to getting hurt who plays for a team this is assured of a playoff spot.
It’s painful to watch and a first-round playoff series win will probably mask all the issues that still plague this team.
Please get healthy, Kyle.
Please don’t let him play any time in the next 7-10 days, Coach Casey.
