NBA scores 2017: Kyle Lowry and the Raptors are as good as ever

The Toronto Raptors lost their last two games of 2016, and Kyle Lowry wasn’t going to let 2017 start the same way. Up just two points to start the fourth quarter, Lowry dropped 20 just to put the feisty Lakers away for good in a 123-114 win in Los Angeles on New Year’s Day.

It was peak Kyle Lowry Over Everything, with Lowry totaling 41 points, nine rebounds and seven assists for the game. His 20-point fourth came on 5-of-6 shooting, knocking down all three treys as well as seven free throws without turning it over once. In the game as a whole, Lowry became the 10th player since at least 1983 to score at least 41 points on just 16 shots. The remarkable fourth quarter only accentuated the sparkling efficiency.

The Lakers scored 31 points in the fourth quarter themselves, so Toronto needed that Lowry performance and ended up scoring 38 to push the lead out into a respectable margin. Los Angeles had their own red-hot shooters, but Lowry was too much. While the Raptors’ losses have come in pairs a few times, Toronto hasn’t lost three in a row all season. Lowry made sure that continued.

That’s what a floor general and team leader does, after all. DeMar DeRozan scored 31 points on Sunday, and he’s clearly one of the team’s two best players and crucial to their success. But Lowry is both those things while becoming the team’s emotional spirit. They ride or die with their 6-foot, 30-year-old point guard, who is just good at being good.

The Raptors’ 23-10 record this season feels disingenuous. The eight-point loss to the Suns last Thursday is a strange one, but most of the team’s defeats come with an explanation. They also lost competitive games to the Warriors twice already this year, twice to Cleveland by four points each, and once to the Clippers by an eight-point margin. They have the second-best point differential in the league, beating teams by an average of nine points over 100 possessions this season. Sitting at 23-10 is a great place to be, but a friendlier schedule might have netted an even more favorable start.

Toronto has the league’s best offense and an average defense. They’ve barely lost to good teams and thwacked bad ones. Lowry and DeRozan are both having career years, and the Raptors will survive if either of them fall off even slightly. Patrick Patterson is injured now, but the Raptors have several bench players who they can plug in during his absence.

The Raptors are quietly back to being the second-best team in the Eastern Conference — not that they ever stopped being that. Our thoughts on who could potentially upset them have, yet again, fallen short so far. And Kyle Lowry won’t let them lose a close game on the road in Los Angeles on New Year’s Day, so they’ve got that going for them, too.

Ingram’s 2-of-7 shooting evening really wasn’t that bad, and it wasn’t just this dunk.

Ingram is still shooting only 35 percent this season, but you can see the makings of a star. The skills exist and he knows all the moves. You can see how well he operates with the ball in his hands and how his overall length will bother opponents. It won’t be this year, not consistently, but he’s not too far off.

The Hawks surely didn’t think they’d be playing Hardaway Jr. over Bazemore late in close games when they gave Bazemore a four-year, $70 million deal this summer. Unfortunately, Bazemore’s season has been massively underwhelming, enough that he rode the bench at the end of the Hawks’ game as Hardaway Jr. tied it with a three.

Atlanta won in overtime, perhaps stymieing briefly the Paul Millsap trade rumors that are already getting going. Hardaway Jr. finished with 29 points on 11-of-13 shooting.

The Nick Young renaissance continues on its merry journey, this time with Young’s blistering shooting behind the arc. He’s shooting 43 percent on threes this year!

Damian Lillard didn’t play, so the heavy lifting fell to McCollum. Man, did he deliver. The Blazers only scored 95 points for the game, too!

This is the most disrespectful thing I’ve seen in 2017.

Hawks 114, Spurs 112, OT (Peachtree Hoops recap | Pounding the Rock recap)

Pistons 107, Heat 98 (Detroit Bad Boys recap | Hot Hot Hoops recap)

Pacers 117, Magic 104 (Indy Cornrows recap | Orlando Pinstriped Post recap)

Trail Blazers 95, Timberwolves 89 (Blazer’s Edge recap | Canis Hoopus recap)

Raptors 123, Lakers 114 (Raptors HQ recap | Silver Screen & Roll recap)