Raptors’ loss of Lowry opens door for Wizards

“That you’re in the gym by yourself working on shots, honestly”, DeRozan said of what goes through his mind in the final seconds.

“When you’re in the gym by yourself working on your shot, you’re not anxious about the crowd, ” DeRozan added. DeRozan can provide that leadership both offensively and defensively, but his numbers will need to increase, too.

The Raptors won their fourth in a row, doing it with DeRozan and defence after learning earlier in the day that All-Star Kyle Lowry will have right wrist surgery that could sideline him the rest of the regular season.

Toronto essentially gave up two second draft picks for Tucker – the wing-stopper DeMarre Carroll was in 2015 but hasn’t been since.

That’s when Cory Joseph and Serge Ibaka had a wee bit of miscommunication that left Anthony wide open to set himself and make a three and I don’t know which of the Raptors looked more sheepish going into the timeout they immediately called.

In a back-and-forth first quarter featuring 11 lead changes, Portland took control, overcoming 12 points from DeRozan to emerge with a 28-25 edge after 12 minutes. “He did a good job”. Ujiri clearly feels like this roster can compete with Cleveland, perhaps even pull of the improbable upset, now it’s up to the players to prove him right. The Hawks led by 13 entering the fourth quarter and increased the edge to 24 despite playing the final 16 minutes without Howard, who was ejected in the third quarter after receiving his second technical foul.

“That wasn’t us in the first half, low energy”, Casey said.

Yes, losing Lowry for an undisclosed period of time feels like a sucker punch, but there are a few reasons to step back from the ledge. “You never want to lose”. We got you covered, here are the big takeaways. This year with Orlando, he’s averaging 15 points and 7 rebounds. “That’s why you get second opinions as he did and we decided – he made a decision to have it done now hopefully to be able to have some time before the playoffs to get some games in”, Casey told reporters ahead of Toronto’s away game against the New York Knicks on Monday, via ESPN.

P.J. Tucker was given the assignment of trying to stop Anthony, whose turnover with help coming late found net as the game was once again all even, 82-82, with 2:37 to play. “A couple of plays, a couple of rebounds could have gone our way”.

Here’s Lowry’s scrum on the wrist injury from Friday night.

Lowry had said that he hurt the wrist sometime during Toronto’s game against the Charlotte Hornets on February 15, when he scored 21 points to lead Toronto to a 90-85 win. In 2006, he broke his left wrist as a rookie and the rehab lasted approximately four months. Usually, the “Lowry plus the bench” unit is unstoppable.

The 30-year-old was averaging a career-high 22.8 points per game while shooting 41.7 percent from three-point range. Originally breaking into the league as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies, Lowry was selected in the first-round of the 2006 NBA Draft out Villanova.

Before the game, the Knicks announced they had released sixth man Brandon Jennings and that Joakim Noah would undergo knee surgery.