Kyle Lowry may not have had a standout game on the stat sheet Friday, but his effort on a rebound late in the game sealed the Toronto Raptors’ 98-93 win over the Orlando Magic in Game 3 of their first round playoff series.
The Raptors were up 96-93 with about 20 seconds left when Kawhi Leonard took an outside jumper and missed off the front of the rim. The ball bounced out towards the 3-point line, and Lowry got a hold of it. Leonard ended up being fouled and made both free throws, leaving the Magic without enough time to overcome the 5-point margin.
Kyle Lowry's crucial rebound pic.twitter.com/RGJWKFuVt6
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) April 20, 2019
Getting the rebound and maintaining possession helped seal the win for the Raptors because Orlando would have had a shot at tying the game on a three if they got the rebound. Marc Gasol, who had 9 points in 26 minutes, made sure to emphasize after the win how big of a play that was by Lowry.
Gasol on Lowry: "That rebound. Talk about that rebound. That was the game. That's Kyle. And that has nothing to do with scoring. He stuck his nose in there, he ran through that ball and he got the rebound. He won the game for us."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) April 20, 2019
Lowry was dogged by us and others for failing to score in a Game 1 loss. He shot much better in the Game 2 win and teamed with Pascal Siakam to key the Game 3 victory. Lowry had 12 points, 10 assists and 5 rebounds, while Siakam had 30 points and 11 rebounds.
