All-Star Break Can’t Arrive Soon Enough For Kyle Lowry

The early season emergence of Kyle Lowry was simply scintillating — catapulting the 28-year-old veteran into All-Star status as he spearheaded the Toronto Raptors to an Eastern Conference-best 24-8 record heading into the New Year — but ever since the calendar year turned 2015, Lowry’s play has quietly leveled off, quite significantly actually.

In fact, Lowry has averaged just 15.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 6.6 assists, and 1.7 steals per game on an abysmal 47.8 percent TS% (true shooting percentage) in 2015, per Basketball-Reference.

More from Toronto Raptors

Comparatively, Lowry started the season on a proverbial mission, averaging 20.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, 7.7 assists, and 1.5 steals on 56.4 percent TS% through the first 32 contests of the 2014-15 season.

Sure enough, the Raptors have cooled off considerably, accumulating an 11-9 record over the past 20 games.

More interestingly, as a testament to Lowry’s effect on Toronto’s attack, the Raptors’ offensive efficiency has closely mirrored their fiery point guard’s anecdotal output.

To be more specific, during the month of December, a 31-day span in which Lowry enjoyed his most productive month as a pro, producing a gaudy line of 22.3/4.2/8.9 on 57.5 percent TS% — in spite of the absence of All-Star teammate DeMar DeRozan — the Raptors managed to lead the league in Offensive Rating scoring 112.9 points per 100 possessions, while doing so on a true shooting clip of 56.2 percent as a team, per NBA.com; flaunting their way to a highly impressive 11-4 record.

Similarly, in November, Lowry, alongside a healthy DeRozan, was able to put up a 19.7/5.2/6.4 line on 56.2 percent true shooting as the Raptors started the season off with the second best offense in the league, sporting an Offensive Rating of 110.6 on 56.0 percent TS% as a team, as Toronto won 12 of their 16 contests during the month.

Conversely, as the Raptors’ season took a turn for the worse, a worn-down Lowry would average a pedestrian 16.6/5.1/6.8, during the month of January, on an uninspiring 47.7 percent TS%. Consequently, Toronto’s offensive efficiency dropped to 105.3, and likewise, their TS% to 53.0 percent, as the Dinos had to scratch and claw their way to a 9-7 record.

Accordingly, Raptors’ head coach, Dwane Casey has been scrambling in search of a viable solution; most notably, taking Lowry off the ball — presumably in an effort to keep him fresh for crunch time — by inserting Greivis Vasquez into the starting lineup to run the show.

The results, on paper, were mostly positive, as Toronto went on an 8-3 tear. However, the Raptors also benefited from the return of DeRozan and a soft schedule; beating a slew of sub-.500 teams — save for the Washington Wizards and Los Angeles Clippers.

In addition, Lowry’s effectiveness suffered miserably, averaging 15.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.5 assists on a sobering 47.9 percent TS% over the aforementioned 11-game stretch.

For such reasons, including the injection of energy James Johnson has given to the Raptors since his respective return, Vasquez was relegated back to the bench, replaced appropriately by the lively forward, over the weekend.

With that being said, as the inaugural prolonged All-Star break approaches, in which the Raptors will receive a much-needed nine day mini vacation, Raptors’ supporters everywhere are hoping Lowry can recharge his batteries and recapture his early season form.

Additionally, the rest cannot come at a better time, as after the break, Toronto will face a gauntlet of contending teams — most of them on the road — as the Raptors prepare for a four game road trip against the likes of the Atlanta Hawks, Houston Rockets, New Orleans Pelicans, and Dallas Mavericks, before returning home to match wits with the Golden State Warriors.

Next: 5 Likely First Time NBA All-Stars Next Season

More from Hoops Habit