Kyle Lowry didn’t want an empty feeling. Instead, he will get his desired public embrace, even if it comes amid fatigue.
Having missed the first three games of the four-game season series against the Toronto Raptors due to family issues, the Miami Heat veteran point guard said Friday he anxiously is awaiting Sunday night’s game at Scotiabank Arena.
“I’ve tried to avoid for a long time thinking about it, but it’s right here,” Lowry said, having spent the previous nine seasons in Toronto and helping the Raptors win the 2019 NBA championship. “I’m looking forward to it, just being able to go to a place I’ve called home for so long and a place I still call home, that has a dear and special place in my heart. It’s going to be emotional.”
Lowry then paused and smiled, aware of how such returns at times can go sideways.
“I’m sure they cheer me for a while, and then if we start to win, boo me,” he said after the Heat finished practice for Saturday night’s game against the Chicago Bulls at the United Center. “It’s all love and it’s just be able to be able to show the appreciation I want to and I’m sure they’ll appreciate me for what I’ve been able to do.”
The Heat’s previous visit to Toronto, a 110-106 Feb. 1 loss, came with limited attendance, due to COVID restrictions, at the facility formerly known as the Air Canada Centre.
Even if he had been available, Lowry said he would not have made his return under such circumstances.
“Honestly, I wouldn’t have played in the game,” he said. “I still want to play in front of the fans that I call friends for so long.”
As it is, the homecoming comes with a quick turnaround from Saturday night’s game against the Bulls.
“I don’t care,” Lowry, 36, said. “Honestly, I’m happy to be able to be up there, play in front of fans.”
Since the Raptors agreed to the sign-and-trade deal in August that sent Goran Dragic and Precious Achiuwa from the Heat, with Lowry signing a three-year, $85 million contract, both teams have thrived.
“I’m happy for those guys, because of the close-knit relationships that I have with those guys, the personal relationships that I’ve built around the organization,” Lowry said. “But also, it’s a team, a franchise that I helped kind of build back up to a point where it’s a contending team, it’s a playoff-competitive team every year. So I’m happy and I’m just proud to have been a part of it.”
Lowry then smiled when asked what Raptors coach Nick Nurse might have cooked up.
“Let me be real,” he said. “Nick’s not going to let me have a game, at all.”
Having penned a thank-you letter that was published Friday by The Players’ Tribune, Lowry said the emotions of the moment will be palpable.
“It feels like going home,” he said. “I did a lot of things for the city, the organization. The city embraced me, and the organization embraced me, and we created a lifelong bond that will always be there. It’s going to be a great day.”
Happy for Hardaway
Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said Friday he was heartened by word that former Heat guard Tim Hardaway has been elected for enshrinement into the Basketball Hall of Fame.
“I’m really thrilled for him,” Spoelstra said. “It’s been a long process for him. We’ve talked about how it made so much sense for him to be a Hall of Famer.
“And everything he did for the Heat organization, everything about it has been a Hall of Fame career. It took a while, but nonetheless I know he’s really excited about it. We’re really happy for him. And we get to spend another weekend celebrating one of our family members being able to have such an uncredible honor.” . . .
Forward Caleb Martin, who has missed the past two games with a bruised right calf, practiced Friday. “We’ll just have to see how he feels,” Spoelstra said.
()
from Signage https://ift.tt/t0XM5uY
via Irvine Sign Company
