He played well throughout the entirety of the playoffs, including the Finals. Just because he didn't shoot well in any particular game doesn't mean he had a
bad performance. Or do you seem to think that he's not making plays all over the floor, on both ends, when his shot is off? His playmaking was paramount whenever the Raptors hit a dead-end, or needed to reestablish fluidity within the offense, and the plays he made on defense, were literally game-changing. You know how teams naturally adopt the identity of their leader? Well, that's what the Raptors did: all hustle and heart, which kept them focused and minimized all their down periods - the very fabric that clothes a championship squad.
He had one of the best defensive performances in a postseason I've seen from a PG for a very, very,
very long time.
And on the biggest stage (a closeout game of the Finals), he was definitively the best player on the floor. The doubters have nothing to say now; he proved them all wrong. No more jokes, no more memes, no more reproval - he buried all his doubters and closed the casket on them for good.
By
hooping, do you mean the same shyt he does every single postseason - comes up short when it matters most, because his style of play isn't conducive to carrying a team as the #1 option? He had some good periods of play, but ultimately his game reared its ugly head, eventually. KD went down and the Warriors were undermanned, and that was the perfect time for him and the Rockets to take advantage of that, but he let Steph embarrass him on his own floor in an elimination game. How many times have we seen this story?
It's the same thing with him: his inconsistent effort, inability to provide any resistance on defense, inability to keep a consistent tempo on offense due to his style of play, inability to be versatile so his team doesn't run a predictable offense, and overall lethargy that holds the team back from maximizing runs or minimizing the opposition team's runs.
"Folk still couldn't see a player whose slothful, gutless temperament was reflected by his tendency to take shortcuts and exhaust loopholes, on both ends of the floor. The postseason climate peeled back his game to its very core, exposing it to the rays of teams' gameplanning, concentrated defensive schemes and the allowment of more contact"
Except here's the thing - Lowry isn't a #1 option, so he's measured differently to Harden. When I "hype" Lowry, it's against a scale as a secondary option or sub-major piece - not with the
superstars of the game. Same as anyone who would praise a role player's performance for living up to expectations or exceeding them; but criticize a superstar's performance for not living up to expectations.
You judge someone like P.J. Tucker differently to LeBron James, don't you?
This thread
