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November 2016. The Toronto Raptors were in the middle of a five-game road trip. It was moments before tip-off against the L.A Clippers at the Staples Center, loud music blared from the giant speakers, and then “Juju on the beat” came on. Kyle Lowry, who was on the side lines with fellow All-Star, DeMar DeRozan, started bopping to the beat. He tried to get his team mate to join him in the dance, as is their custom. DeRozan, who was trying to get his game face on, refused to budge. Still Lowry kept dancing.
Raptors went on to lose that game 123-115 to a red-hot Clippers that, at that time, had the best record in the League. However, Lowry scored a game-high 27 points and added a team-high seven assists. That moment captured the essence of the 31 year old, three-time All-Star guard; he can be extremely playful and appear unserious, but when the chips are down, he knows what he is about.
That theory of ‘the two-way Lowry’ is further underlined by a story, narrated by his former coach at Villanova Basketball, Jay Wright. He said he had specifically instructed the incoming freshman not to be late for school orientation. Yet, on the day, Lowry took off to play in a Summer League game. However, when Lowry finally made it to school, Wright said the Raptors back court general showed “a heart of gold, and is really intelligent”. Lowry went on to play two years at Villanova, and was taken with the 24th pick in the 2006 Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies.
Back to that November 2016 game at the Staples Center; another small but significant piece of history that will have an impact on the 2017 NBA Africa Game, was made. Luc Mbah A Moute, who set up the Basketball Camp that unearthed Pascal Siakam was on the roster of the L.A Clippers, while Siakam was on the starters’ list for the Toronto Raptors. When the game tipped off, it marked the first time in NBA history that two players from Cameroon faced off in an NBA game. Both were on opposing sides that cold day in November, they will be on the same side come the 5th of August.
What Lowry brings to a Team World looking for a second win on African soil, is the same mentality he took to the Raptors; when he arrived Toronto, he wasn’t a superstar and the Raptors had never won a playoff series. In the five years he’s been at The North though, the Raptors have won multiple Division titles, won several playoff series, played in the Eastern Conference Finals and Lowry himself has become an All-Star staple.
All of which led to the new $100m he recently signed.
Not only that, Masai Ujiri, the Nigerian GM of the Toronto Raptors, sees Lowry as one of the pieces in a strategic move to deliver a first-ever NBA title to a franchise outside the United States. A tall order, maybe; but the belief is there.
But first, Lowry will dance to the music at the Ticketpro Dome in Johannesburg. With the boys from Cameroon present, of course.
By Akinbode Oguntuyi
