Author: Slater Dvoor
Year after year it is the same sad story for the Toronto Raptors. A great regular season followed by a disappointing postseason run that is ended by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers. Good news for the Raptors, LeBron James has left Cleveland for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Raptors have added superstar forward Kawhi Leonard. This should make for a better ending to their season right? While Leonard is a fantastic addition, it's the Raptors other all-star, Kyle Lowry's lack of postseason success that has been problematic for Toronto.
Kyle Lowry could go down as one of the worst postseason performers in the history of the NBA. At first glance the numbers don't look so poor. He averages 15.3 points per game and 5.4 assists per game in the playoffs compared to 14.4 points per game and 6.3 assists per game. Fairly similar. If you dive deeper into the numbers they are not bad for Lowry, but atrocious. His offensive rating per 100 possessions is 115 with a defensive rating of 107, where the goal is to have as low of a number as possible. In the playoffs his offensive rating dips to 107 and his defensive rating rises to 111. To take it a step further Kyle Lowry's player efficiency rating in the regular season is 18.4 well above the league average of 15. In the playoffs that number takes a dip to 15.9. Meaning Lowry goes from an all-star level to just above an average player.
Beyond the statistics Lowry simply does not do enough during the playoffs. Constantly ridiculed for his performances. Hopefully the 2019 playoffs would be different for Lowry. It hasn't started so hot. Lowry scored no points on 0/7 shooting from the field and 0/2 from the free throw line in a 104-101 loss to Orlando Magic. Lowry was basically nonexistent. Except for DJ Augustin absolutely toasting him for 25 points on 9/13 shooting. That is a playoff career high for Augustin. This is DJ Augustin we are talking about. It is not Kyrie Irving or John Wall who also have dominated the Raptors point guard in postseason play. Lowry is basically Mario Chalmers when it comes to his play in the postseason. It is said that the playoffs is where we separate the men from the boys. Clearly Lowry is still just a boy.
