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Raptors' Lowry eyeing victory in Casey's emotional return

Lucas Oleniuk / Toronto Star / Getty

Wednesday night will be a homecoming of sorts when the Detroit Pistons travel North to face the Toronto Raptors. It will mark the first regular season trip to Toronto for Pistons head coach Dwane Casey since the Raptors fired him in May.

Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry spent his entire tenure in Toronto - prior to this season - playing under Casey. Though emotions will run high, Lowry has his eyes set on a ruthless victory.

"It’s going to be different, but hey, I’m still going to try to take his head off, the team’s head off," Lowry said with a laugh, according to The Associated Press.

With Casey at the helm, the Raptors made the playoffs in five consecutive seasons, finishing atop the Atlantic Division four times. Lowry acknowledged his relationship with Casey wasn't always smooth - and was often adversarial - but it evolved into something positive.

"(Our relationship) changed a lot," Lowry said. "It went from a guy who kind of wasn’t trusting in what I did, and me not trusting in what he wanted, and kind of us battling back and forth, to him being like, 'Hey listen, I believe in what you can do, you show me what you can do,’ and me saying 'All right, if you show me that and I’ve showed you what I can do, I’ll listen to you more and we’ll have a good relationship.'

"It turned into a great coach-player relationship."

The Raptors are coming off their second loss of the young season, a 126-110 defeat at the hands of the New Orleans Pelicans. The Pistons, meanwhile, are 6-6 on the season and sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference.

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