Kyle Lowry was pushing the ball up the floor, surveying what was ahead of him near the end of the Raptors’ dominant second quarter on Tuesday night. Marc Gasol was one of the players in front of him. Prior to the trade that had brought Gasol to Toronto earlier this month, the crafty centre had spent his entire career in Memphis. Routinely, the Grizzlies play at one of the slowest paces in the league. At the time of the trade, they were the slowest this year.



The Raptors are not an exceptionally fast team, but they often play multi-guard lineups. They also employ Pascal Siakam, arguably the best runner of any frontcourt player in the league. It is not a track meet with the Raptors, but it is not methodical, either.



Gasol put his two hands up, his palms facing Lowry. He wanted Lowry to slow down. While Gasol did that in front of Lowry on the left, Siakam sprinted down the right side, out-running Gasol and everyone else on the court. Lowry delivered the pass, and...