The Goose Egg Game

A year ago the question was asked in full sincerity: Is Kyle Lowry a playoff choker?

It probably wasn't a fair question, Lowry's playoff resume prior to the 2019 run was already impressive, yet year after year the Raptors seemed to fizzle out in crunch time the team's crunch-time duo of DeMar DeRozan and Lowry seemed to always get the finger pointed at them.

Game 1 of the 2019 playoff run was no different. Even without DeRozan by his side, Lowry was pointed to as the goat after the Raptors fell 104-101 to the Magic.

Tonight you'll watch the game on Sportsnet at 8 p.m. and think 'what was I thinking?' Looking back on it, the question about Lowry's clutchness was crazy. The post-game hot takes and the Twitter nonsense seems comical.

It’s scientifically proven year after year that Kyle Lowery is a playoff scrub
— 🧐 (@CoachPFerguson) April 15, 2019

I woke up this morning and was grateful that my franchise point guard isn't Kyle Lowry.
— Struggler (@PBLucifer) April 15, 2019

Wanna hear a joke?

Kyle Lowry
— 〽️ (@HeStillCold) April 14, 2019

For the 3885959485th time.. Kyle Lowry is terrible.
— Trill (@TheTrillAC) April 14, 2019

Kyle Lowry might single handedly ruin the Raptors... but I was told not to trade him for Mike Conley🙃🙃🙃
— LegendOfWinning (@LegendOfWinning) April 13, 2019

No hate...absolutely no hate...but Kyle Lowry chokes EVERY playoffs 🤷🏾‍♂️🤷🏾‍♂️
— Steelo Brim (@SteeloBrim) April 13, 2019

Zero points is zero points, there was no real way to sugar coat it, but at the same time Raptors fans maybe learned that what makes Lowry so special is his ability to impact the game without the ball. He had a team-high eight assists that night, pulled down seven boards, and was a team-high +11.

The problem for the Raptors was Lowry's counterpart, Augustin had one of the best games of his career, scoring 25 including a game-winning 3-pointer over the outstretched arms of Marc Gasol with 3.4 seconds remaining.

Ooof.

But Eric Koreen put it perfectly.

If you can’t handle Kyle Lowry at his worst, you don’t deserve him at his best. #2019Playoffs
— (((Eric Koreen))) (@ekoreen) April 15, 2019

Lowry came back in Game 2 to score 22 points leading the Raptors to a 111-82 victory over the Magic to right the ship and send Toronto sailing toward an eventual NBA championship.

Over the next few weeks TSN and Sportsnet will re-air the entire ride and it'll seem like a forgone conclusion that the Raptors were going to win it all, but for a moment, try to remember what it felt like on that day, when questions swirled about Lowry's playoff performance.