Title: Kyle Lowry puts on playmaking show for Raptors in record assist night
Date: March 4, 2021
Original Source: The Athletic
Synopsis: In my latest for The Athletic Toronto, I wrote about Kyle Lowry matching the Raptors franchise record with 19 assists in a game.
It would have stood out like a sore, red-shoelace-wrapped thumb if it didn’t happen eventually. Kyle Lowry, the greatest Toronto Raptor of all time and by far the most prolific passer in team history, now owns a share of the franchise record for assists in a game.
With 32 seconds remaining in the Raptors’ 132-125 loss to the Boston Celtics on Thursday, Lowry found Chris Boucher for a 3-pointer and his 19th assist of the night.
The assist accomplished about as much as one assist can. It brought the Raptors to within four. It tied him for the most assists in a game in the NBA this season (Draymond Green, Chris Paul). It marked Lowry’s career-best, topping the 17 he’d posted just once as a Raptor and the 18 he’d recorded twice as a Houston Rocket. And it tied him with Jose Calderon (twice) and Damon Stoudamire (once) for the most ever by a Raptor, an honour that Calderon, a legendarily unselfish lead guard, is happy to share.
“I’m OK with him being the one,” Calderon said after Lowry reached 18 with three minutes to play.
Blake Murphy Sports Writing 