Just before Christmas, Kyle Lowry put on one of the most memorable individual performances of the still-young Raptors regular season. After sitting for most of the third quarter because of a cut that required repair on his lip, the Raptors point guard scored 19 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter. The Raptors won in Utah, almost entirely on the back of his heroics.



On Thursday, the Raptors returned to Toronto to play their first home game of 2017. Again, the Jazz were the opponents. Utah coach Quin Snyder had not forgotten in the intervening 13 days when a reporter asked him how to get Lowry out of his comfort zone.



“Well, he could get hurt again in the third quarter like last game,” Snyder said before Lowry tormented his team late again on Thursday night, in a 101-93 Raptors win. “Hopefully that doesn’t happen. He made up for it in the fourth. You’ve got to try to contest his shots. He’s going to make contested shots.