There are moments reminiscent of Wednesday night time towards his former crew when the intention with Kyle Lowry is obvious, the Miami Heat’s veteran level guard shifting into assault mode when it turns into obvious scoring is what is required.
Lowry’s 19 factors within the loss to the Toronto Raptors initially of this four-game journey have been three off his season excessive, and his second highest scoring whole of the season.
But there additionally have been solely two assists.
For Lowry, greater than a yr into his Heat tenure, it’s as if there nonetheless is a balancing act in play. On nights when others can dominate with their scoring, he defers. But on an evening reminiscent of Wednesday, when Jimmy Butler scored solely 13, he switches it up.
“Just figuring it out,” Lowry mentioned, with the Heat shifting on to Friday night time’s recreation towards the Washington Wizards at Capital One Arena. “One factor about it’s it’s a marathon and never a dash.
“Early in the year we were trying to figure out our team. Right now, unfortunately, we’ve got injuries, so that forces everyone to step up a little bit more.”
When beginning alongside Tyler Herro, Lowry typically performs off the ball. With Max Strus beginning the previous two weeks as Herro offers with an ankle sprain, it has been extra of a conventional on-ball task.
“I think we’re figuring some things out,” Lowry, 36, mentioned. “If you’re concerned about your individual stats and your game right now, you shouldn’t be. It’ll come.”
Not that any of that is new, with Lowry tending to ease his method into seasons. Last yr, he scored fewer than 10 factors in 9 of first 19 appearances. This season, he has scored in double figures in all however two, albeit with modest scoring totals, fifth on the crew in scoring going into Friday night time, at 13.5 factors per recreation.
“As a veteran player, my thing is everyone comes in from the summertime and you’ve got to get back comfortable with each other as a group,” he mentioned. “And we’ve got to figure out different lineups, different teams. But I think we’re coming together.”
Former Toronto teammate Fred VanVleet mentioned within the wake of the Raptors’ Wednesday victory over the Heat that his former backcourt companion nonetheless has ample methods up his sleeve.
“I thought he was old three years ago,” VanVleet mentioned with a smile. “To see him still kicking and making an impact and putting pressure on the defense, you could just see the greatness in him.”
To a level, Lowry mentioned it’s as whether it is one other new starting, in contrast to the continuity of his 9 seasons with the Raptors.
“I think it’s different now because we have a different starting unit.,” he mentioned of an alignment that solely accidents have altered. “Tyler is rising and coming alongside, and Bam [Adebayo] is turning into extra of an element, and Caleb [Martin] is our beginning man now [at power forward in place of departed P.J. Tucker]. So it’s simply completely different, attempting to determine who, what, the place, how and when.
“So that’s the thing that takes time. That’s something we have to deal with. But I think we’ve found a great groove. It’ll be different when Tyler gets back but we understand what we’re doing with Tyler and Bam and everybody. We’re all on the same page.”
All with an appreciation of the Heat looking for their place in an Eastern Conference replete with parity, after the Heat secured the highest regular-season playoff seed final season.
“It’s Milwaukee and Boston are really good and everybody else is still good but they’re trying to figure it out,” he mentioned. “But that’s our league generally. . . . That’s the nice parity of our league and the way it’s arrange now.
“A variety of guys, numerous groups are all type of equal. And like I mentioned, it’s additionally [16] video games in. When you get to 50 video games you begin to say ‘OK, this is what it is.’ “
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Source: www.bostonherald.com