Kyle Lowry Left the Court in the 2nd Quarter to "Clear His Head," the Media is Giving Him a Pass [UPDATE]

In the 2nd quarter of the Raptors Game 2 loss to the Cavs, Kyle Lowry, Toronto’s best player and an All-Star, walked off the court during a timeout for a few minutes. Maybe he needed a bathroom break; maybe his postseason struggles finally got to him and he just needed a minute to himself. Here’s what he told the media after the game:

"“Just to kind of decompress, get back there, kind of relax my body and relax my mind,” Lowry said. “And knowing that we had a chance to kind of make some things [happen], I wanted to get myself going and get my teammates going and get the team going. It was nothing more than just kind of to decompress, breathe and get back out.”"

Maybe he had the runs like Bobby Hurley vs UNLV and didn’t want to talk about it. Either way, Lowry displayed zero urgency during his break. Watch the video above – Lowry simply walked off the court as if he were going to get the mail.

But for some reason, this storyline has gotten zero pickup. Can you imagine if LeBron walked off the court? Kevin Durant? Stephen Curry? It would lead every sports website on the internet. It’d be the topic today on sports radio. Hell, I was totally unaware of this story until I received a DM asking where the post was on Lowry. How does the team’s best player pull a stunt like this and face no scrutiny?

Lowry is off to a terrible start in the series, scoring just 18 points in two games and missing 14 of 15 three-pointers. He has nine turnovers and eight assists. Worse yet, after Lowry left the court, the Cavs went on a 12-2 run, and the Raptors never recovered.

Game 3 is Saturday night in Toronto.

[UPDATE: Less than 24 hours after saying he went to “decompress” and “breathe,” Lowry is now saying he went to the bathroom. His coach is saying the same thing.]