Kyle Lowry inadvertently caused quite the little dust-up after the Raptors’ Game 7 win on Sunday when he referred to LeBron James “one of the best players in the league, besides Steph.” That relatively-harmless qualifier tacked onto the end there was, naturally, blown way out of proportion, to the point where Lowry felt the need to walk back that statement prior to Game 1 of Toronto’s Eastern Conference Finals showdown with LeBron and the Cavs.
#Raptors G Kyle Lowry says of LeBron "I would never throw any shade on one of the greatest players in the history of basketball."
— Mike Mazzeo (@MazzNYC) May 17, 2016
On the one hand, it makes sense that Lowry and the Raptors wouldn’t want to give their opponents any bulletin-board material to use as motivation, especially with the way the Cavs just categorically-dismantled both the Pistons and Hawks en route to two consecutive series sweeps.
But it also bears mentioning that LeBron hasn’t exactly been above casting a little shade himself lately, coincidentally aimed directly at the man Lowry initially compared him to. LeBron’s comments about both the nature of the MVP award and who he thought should’ve won Coach of the Year were not-so-subtle jabs designed to raise Curry’s rankles. As usual, there’s a lot of bear-poking going on this postseason, so it’ll be interesting to see who ends up at the top of the food chain when it’s all said and done in June.
