With 57 seconds left on the clock, Kyle Lowry makes his move. The Raptors are up 107-99 against the Boston Celtics, and a potentially game-sealing possession is in Lowry’s hands.
Lowry drives hard to the rim, sweeping low to the ground as his defender sprints to keep up. 15 feet from the hoop, Lowry leans into his man and in one smooth move, steps back. Jayson Tatum stumbles off-balance, fruitlessly reaching out as Lowry gathers himself into a shot.
In one polished motion, Lowry releases the ball. A second later, the Celtics’ chances of winning the game have dissolved. In an emerging trend this season, Kyle Lowry has closed out another game.
He did it again a day later in a back-to-back on the road against Washington when he dropped 28 points and 12 assists. At 32, Lowry is playing some of the best basketball of his career.
Yet, only last season, NBA fans thought the Raptors point guard was on the decline. He was coming off years of playoff disappointment and was looking older and slower than ever before.
This season, however, Kyle Lowry has reinvented himself. He’s found himself a new, innovative coach, and his old nemesis LeBron James has finally fled the East. Toronto may have taken away his best friend in DeMar DeRozan, but they rewarded him with the superior basketball player in Kawhi Leonard. New coach Nick Nurse has unleashed Kyle Lowry, giving him the opportunity to play the style of basketball Lowry’s best at.
No more isolations or standing in the corner. Instead, there are triple screens into give-and-go’s. There are off-ball routes that send defenders running into one another and easy backdoor layups. Kyle Lowry is orchestrating chaos on the basketball court and is absolutely thriving in it.
As of November 6, Toronto sits atop the league with a record of 10-1. Without question, Lowry is the best point guard in the East right now. His combination of shooting, passing, and defense make him elite, a top-5 point guard in the whole league.
His season average of 17.9 PPG doesn’t jump off the page, but the 11.5 AST show how well Lowry has adjusted to the new offense. The addition of Kawhi has also elevated his defense, and Lowry looks five years younger on the other side of the ball.
His peers in the East are held back by bad teams, poor chemistry, and not enough touches. John Wall’s Wizards are 2-7, and although in previous years Wall would have made a strong case, injuries and poor team chemistry have held him back.
Kemba Walker and the Hornets are not awful at 5-5, but their team hasn’t gotten any better for years. Despite Walker’s heroics, his supporting cast is just too bad for the Hornets to finish above the sixth seed in the subpar East.
Kyrie Irving is the most popular counter to Lowry’s position as the best point guard in the East. He started the season off slow, however, and it’ll be difficult improving his stats with the talent around him. The Celtics are a respectable 6-4, but I don’t expect them to pass the Raptors in the standings anytime soon. Boston’s still figuring out how to integrate Gordon Hayward and still don’t know how many touches their young guys like Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown should get.
The most convincing factor is Lowry’s defense. Despite his size, Lowry has always been a consistent NBA defender. Wall has declined in his efforts on defense, and although Walker and Irving have improved, neither of them are currently on Lowry’s level.
Additionally, Lowry is taking the most open shots he’s ever gotten in his life. After years of an isolation reliant offense that forces Lowry to create for himself, the revamped Raptors offense creates much more spot-up looks. As a result, Lowry’s shooting a career-high 50.0 FG% and 40.8 3P%. Expect these percentages to maintain themselves because the number of quality looks Lowry is getting is astonishing.
The Toronto Raptors are going to be a 60-win team this season. This isn’t a claim that they’re the best team in the East, or that they’ll make the finals. What it is, however, is evidence that Lowry is playing on another level. NBA fans have never seen this sort of play from him before, and it’s resulting in enormous success. Winning is the most important facet of sports, and the Raptors’ league-leading record should also make Lowry the best point guard in the East.