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2009.
Do you remember 2009? It was the year Kanye first interrupted Swift. It was the year "Empire State of Mind" was a new and relatively fresh song. It was the year the Raptors banked Hedo Turkoglu to be a star wing on a playoff team.
2009 was also the year Kyle Lowry last dunked.
Video of this dunk doesn’t exist, but Lowry insists it happens. There are earlier noted dunks by the Villanova point guard. Here he is in 2006 as a member of the Memphis Grizzlies, dunking in a video that seems to feature the Blade Runner soundtrack on a scratched-up CD.
Sunday at the All-Star Game, Kyle Lowry slammed again. It was barely a dunk, a put-back on a John Wall shot, but a dunk nonetheless.
Strangely enough, Kyle Lowry and the slam dunk has become somewhat of a running joke. This stat surfaced a week ago, pointing out that Lowry has a real opportunity for his second straight season as the league’s top scorer without a dunk. This deep cut stat, which should really be renamed the Tony Parker Scoring Title, isn’t all that meaningful – but for me, it’s meaningful enough.
The Raptors rarely come out on top of anything. We’ve never had a scoring champ, and the marquee scoring talents we have held on to eventually left us for greener pastures. I don’t care that the plan for this year is to win a playoff series, continue to develop a young core, and keep options open for a big free agent splash. With Kyle Lowry and the no-dunk scoring title, we have a real chance at a statistical dynasty. The man himself seems to agree.
Lowry on ASG dunk: "Never again. Never expect that. Don’t even dream about it. It ain’t gonna happen. Ain’t gonna happen."
— Eric Koreen (@ekoreen) February 19, 2015
The All-Star dunk on Sunday proved Lowry can still get up. But for the legacy of the Raptors, it’d be really great if he stayed closer to the ground.