Lowry: 'I'm going to have to force shots'

Kyle Lowry added to his ignominious Game 1 track record Saturday by laying an egg against the Milwaukee Bucks in another playoff-opening loss for his Toronto Raptors.

Thanks to a combination of the Bucks' aggressive traps and his own growing tentativeness, Lowry scored just four points on 2-of-11 shooting, including 0-of-6 from 3-point range, and finished with a game-worst minus-22 rating. He accepted blame for the team's uninspired effort, and vowed to be better moving forward.

He has some interesting notions about how to improve his performance.

"Every time I was in a screen-and-roll, I had four arms around me," Lowry told reporters Sunday. "I guess I'm going to have to force shots."

As some pointed out, that particular strategy appears unlikely to produce better results.

Lowry could have been more assertive offensively in Game 1 - he seemed spooked after getting swatted by Thon Maker at the rim, and eschewed layup attempts or opted to abort drives on a few occasions thereafter - but, for the most part, the Raptors just need him to be his decisive self at both ends of the floor.

"We're gonna go the way Kyle goes," Raptors head coach Dwane Casey told reporters after the game. "He's our guy, he's our All-Star. He makes a lot of decisions for us."