Yoga, Snipers and Shooting Dice: Inside All-Star Kyle Lowry’s fr

2023年8月6日发(作者：甘乃光)

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By Eric Koreen Feb 12, 2019

Nearly every basketball-loving child raised in the ’90s had an approximation of the same dream: To be Michael Jordan. Whether you mimicked his moves — switching hands in the air for a layup, posterizing Patrick Ewing, hitting a mid-range jumper off of a push off — or his persona — shrugging your shoulders or leaping atop the scorers table to count his titles — Jordan oozed charisma and cool.

He also had the best home introduction. The scene was iconic: The lights dimmed in Chicago, a bull stampeded through the streets of Chicago on the video board while the ominous strains of The Alan Parsons Project played on the speakers, first at the Chicago Stadium and then at the United Center. The public address announcer would introduce the starters one-by-one before finally getting to Jordan. “From North … Carolina,” and so forth. By the time he got to Jordan, however, he usually was already in the team huddle, essentially following the fourth starter. It was the ultimate move for a player of his stature, simultaneously saying that Jordan did not need the spotlight because it deflected attention away from the team at large, but also because he was so famous, so beloved that he did not have to soak in the cheers time after time.

 During his time in Toronto, DeMar DeRozan channelled Jordan, making his way through the tunnel of players quickly to get to the team circle. The players who are given that option are few and far between. Not every player gets to be the last player announced in front of a ravenous, supportive home crowd. Most don’t. Even some of the best players ever to wear a team’s uniform don’t get that opportunity.

 When Kyle Lowry’s Raptors tenure ends, his case as the franchise’s best player ever will be formidable. We will leave that debate for another day, but Lowry has rarely pulled up the rear during home introductions, proceeding DeMar DeRozan or Kawhi Leonard for most of his career here. Despite ranking in the top-five in Raptors’ history in games (5th), minutes (3rd), 3-pointers (1st), assists (6th), steals (1st), points (4th) and total win shares (2nd), Lowry has gotten that last spot only when DeRozan or Leonard were out of the lineup. They have gotten to mix the high-profile spot with the low-profile entrance. Accordingly, Lowry has used his lower-profile spot with a higher-profile entrance.

 “I honestly don’t even know how it started,” Raptors reserve Norman Powell said.

 When you see it once, it is hard not to watch it time after time after time. As Mark “Strizzy” Strickland introduces Lowry at home, he gets into a crouch, slow-stepping his way through a man-made tunnel of Raptors. He offers low-fives to all of his teammates, save for Leonard, who is waiting behind him, and the starting centre, who usually waits at the end of the line for something a little more dramatic.

 “When it’s game time, I’m focused on the game,” Serge Ibaka said. “I don’t feel comfortable laughing before games. Some people do it. It’s just different.”

 “We just jump high, spin off each other,” Lowry said of his pre-game interaction with Ibaka. “It’s like a fake chest bump.”

 Mostly everybody else is in with Lowry’s routine, though. As he offers up low fives, his teammates reciprocate. As time has gone on, his teammates have gotten more creative with how they take part in the routine. Here is the story of how it came to be.

The Origin 

For Lowry’s first four seasons in Toronto, he entered with little fanfare. There was the occasional leaping high-five with Jonas Valanciunas — the shortest man on the floor and the biggest man, teammates since 2012, connecting — but little else.

By the time the 2017-18 season rolled along, Lowry decided to change it up.

Delon Wright, Raptors guard, 2015-19: I think it was last year. It started last year. I just remember two guys did it, kind of getting low. And I feel like everybody started to add their own things to it. I don’t remember who it was. I can’t tell you. I’m sure (Open Gym) has recorded it.

Fred VanVleet, Raptors guard, 2016-present: Oh shit, I don’t know. I don’t remember doing it my rookie year (in 2016-17). I think it started last year. He started coming through real low. I think it started growing, each guy seeing how low they could get.

C.J. Miles, Raptors swingman, 2017-19: It was like that when I got here. I just followed suit. Everybody was getting down, so I started getting down.

Lowry: I have no i-effing-dea. That’s why it’s pretty amazing. I started low-fiving last year. And, you know, K-Low, the last name, all that stuff — I don’t know. That’s what made it the best: There was no, ‘Oh, let’s try to do this.’ It just happened to happen. It’s kind of crazy.

Indeed, nobody on the Raptors can remember having a conversation with Lowry about the routine. It is a talking point in quieter moments in the locker room among other players, though.

Miles: Not once. Never. It just happened. We just started doing random stuff. Last year I did a breakdancing move. Last home game I just slid out on my stomach.

Pascal Siakam, Raptors forward, 2016-present: I don’t know. I know everybody got low. I have no idea how it got to that.

OG Anunoby, Raptors forward, 2017-present: We just know he’s going to do it, so we talk amongst ourselves. We’ve got to do something creative.

Lowry: That’s why it’s so original and it’s kind of cool, because nobody has said, “We should do this.” Honestly, no BS, it literally just happened. That’s why it’s pretty cool.

The Metamorphosis

The routine was pretty straightforward for most of 2017-18. There were some innovators, but for the most part Lowry just made his way slowly in between his teammates, with awkward pacing, offering low fives. As the months went on, that began to change.

Miles: I just saw it start happening. Everybody added their own little twist to what they do on the ground.

VanVleet: Now you’ve got everybody laying on the ground. Once we naturally started doing that, we started doing all type of weird stuff. It’s turned into an ab workout program now. Everybody’s doing their own thing.

Norman Powell, Raptors swingman, 2015-present: It always started with you getting low and he gives you a high five. He always did that. But the whole core (work), sit-ups, push-ups, everybody gradually adding their own little thing, that came slowly. Somebody tried it. Somebody else did it. And now it’s just a thing where everybody is trying to come up with something new for the intro for him to just react off of.

Anunoby: He did it last year but it wasn’t as big. This year, now we’re excited for it. We’re trying to figure out stuff to do, be creative.

Malachi Richardson, Raptors swingman, 2018-19: It’s always something last minute. I always just try to think of something funny or cool. I don’t know, it’s a spur-of-the-moment type thing.

The Highlights and Experts

Save for Ibaka and Kawhi Leonard, nearly every Raptor participates in Lowry’s routine. Some are better than others.

Powell: I think the best one is when Pascal does the core or the sit-ups. I don’t think I’ve gotten any antics when Kyle comes out. I just do my normal thing of getting low and giving him a high five.

Wright: I think C.J.’s was the best last year, doing ab work.

Doing abdominal work is probably the most common action in the introduction line. While Wright credited Miles with the creation of the move, it is frequently used. At a recent game, Anunoby was doing sit-ups as Lowry entered.

Anunoby: We’re trying to figure out stuff to do, be creative. I always do the abs.

Siakam: I know (Anunoby has been stealing from me). It’s fine. It’s OG.

Miles: One day, it might be a sniper on the ground, acting like you’re in war. Doing sit-ups, doing whatever. People make it up in their head while it’s going on. It’s pretty funny and cool to see.

Siakam: I do yoga, a lot of different things. There are a lot of different things. You’ve got to be creative. In the moment. In the moment. I come up with them in the moment. I don’t think about them before. I don’t have a list, or anything.

Wright: I like Greg Monroe’s with Kyle: They kind of role the dice and pick up the money. I like that one right now.

Greg Monroe, Raptors centre, 2018-19: I just started doing it. If you’re familiar with craps, you know if a seven (Lowry’s number) comes up, you win. So that’s all it’s about.

Lowry: Greg’s shooting the dice. Sometimes I don’t like it, so I kick it. Or I grab it and let him roll it again.

Monroe: OG’s is always pretty funny. The young guys — Malachi is always up to something. OG and Malachi are probably the two best.

Lowry: Most creative? Malachi’s been freaking great. He’s been awesome. Pascal is super funny. Danny (Green) is actually picking his game up a lot. He’s been riding an invisible bike. C.J. is pretty good. Somebody did, not a bomb but a grenade, and it was pretty cool. I think all of the guys have been enjoying every moment of it.

Richardson: I had some good ones. I had the cell phone call. Rock, paper, scissors, shoot was a good one. Those are probably my best two ones so far.

The Uniqueness

Since at least the Kevin Garnett-era Boston Celtics, specialized introduction routines and handshakes have been part of the NBA. VanVleet said the Lowry introduction is comparatively tame to some things he was a part of in high school and university, but not many ones jump to mind.

Lowry is often portrayed — and often portrays himself — as a cantankerous sort. Yet, the Raptors have rallied around him to carve out some time for amusement.

Monroe: I haven’t been a part of something like this. In Milwaukee we did something before the game after intros — people dancing in a circle, normal stuff. It was nothing like this. This is definitely the first place I’ve been where there’s something group-oriented coming through a tunnel like that.

Miles: It’s the most interesting, the best one I’ve been involved in. There’s not one, not a team I’ve been on where everyone starts getting ready when his name is about to get called.

Wright: I don’t think anybody else is this elaborate.

Richardson: It’s always fun with Kyle. Kyle, himself, is a character. When he shows that side of himself off the basketball court before we play, it just gets guys going as a team. (His stoic persona) is just the business-aspect of it with you guys on the court. Off the court, he’s like a sweetheart almost. He’s such a silly guy.

Lowry: I think it definitely helps with the camaraderie a little bit. I believe in that. I believe it helps in the team aspect of it, because they know there’s going to be some fun, do you know what I mean?

A pre-game introduction routine can only do so much in terms of building camaraderie. The Raptors traded Richardson, Monroe, Wright, Miles and Valanciunas in advance of the trade deadline, taking away much of the team’s creativity on that front. The latter three players were moved for Marc Gasol, who was not exactly prepared for the moment for his first home game with the Raptors on Monday.

Marc Gasol, Raptors centre, 2019: I didn’t know what they were doing. I have no clue what they were doing. They didn’t do it in New York. They did not tell me. They just got on the floor and started — I still don’t know what they were doing. I will see (whether he takes part in the game against Washington on Wednesday). You have to do something, they said. I’ll definitely be a a part of it. I don’t know what I’m gonna do, if I’m gonna do a snow angel. I don’t think that’s going to be the case for me. I’ll be a part of the team. Whatever they want to do, I’ll be a part of it.

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