Kyle Lowry And Kawhi Leonard Had Very Different Ways Of Downplaying Their Game Against The Warriors

We’ve officially reached the quarter mark of the regular season, and certain trends have started to emerge, some more sustainable and predictive of longer-term trends than others. By this point, there’s typically a team that’s gotten off to a surprisingly hot start, as well as a league stalwart that has stumbled out of the gates for various reasons.

Those two things converged on Thursday night when the Golden State Warriors visited the Toronto Raptors for a showdown that was, of course, billed as a potential Finals preview. Amid all the hype, it didn’t disappoint. We got otherworldly performances from Kevin Durant (51 points, 11 rebounds, and six assists) and Kawhi Leonard (37 points, eight rebounds) as the latter was able to help bring home the narrow 131-128 victory.

Toronto’s two biggest stars tried to downplay the significance of it, reverting to that time-honored line of “it’s just another regular season game.” Though he wasn’t shy about heaping praise on Durant for his scoring outburst, Kawhi offered a measure response to taking down the champs in a late-November game.

Kyle Lowry, on the other hand, set the tone before the game, warning everyone not to ask him any “dumbass questions.” Yet the first question was about the significance of the game for Toronto, to which he replied, you guessed it.

Then, as if that whole initial exchange didn’t literally just happen, the very next question was only a slight variation on that line of inquiry, prodding Lowry to elaborate on why he won’t put more stock into things. Lowry, hilariously, refused to play along.

We’ve gotten to see a lot more of this version of Lowry since DeMar DeRozan was traded, i.e. a little testier, even if it’s all in good fun. Maybe that edge is just what he and the Raptors need to take this team farther than they’ve ever been before this year, even if Thursday night was just another win.

A previous version of this post said Lowry’s comments were from after the game. It has been updated.