Will Lowry be ready for the playoffs? As much as the Raptors were hoping to avoid looking ahead, the health of their best player has forced their hand. As TSN's Josh Lewenberg writes, Kyle Lowry's ill-advised return from a two-game absence puts his status for the foreseeable future in question.

Josh Lewenberg TSN Raptors Reporter Follow|Archive

AUBURN HILLS - As much as the Raptors were hoping to avoid looking ahead, the health of their best player has forced their hand.

Kyle Lowry's ill-advised return from a two-game absence was short-lived on Tuesday as the point guard lasted just 10 minutes before his tweaking his injured back, forcing him from the game and putting his status for the foreseeable future in question.

On a night in which Toronto could have officially punched its ticket to the playoffs, the team lost something far more important than the game and must now ask themselves, what's the best course of action to get the most out of Lowry - and by extension, the entire club - in just over three weeks' time?

"We're going to be in the playoffs," said DeMar DeRozan following a controversial finish in Toronto's 108-104 loss to Detroit. "We don't want to be in a situation where we don't know if Kyle is going to be healthy or not for the playoffs. So whatever it takes for him to get back healthy in the next couple of weeks, next couple of days, whatever he needs, we're going to need that. Because when it gets serious, we're going to need him."

"I would rather for him to get totally healthy before he comes back," head coach Dwane Casey echoed. "So he is totally ready down the stretch run."

Lowry said he came to the arena feeling ready to play but twisted his back the wrong way in a play during the second quarter. He could barely walk after the game. It was more of a shuffle. Solemnly, he stood in front of the team's locker room, addressing the media on the eve of his 29th birthday. Unfortunately, this setback may have been the wake-up call he needed.

"I'mma take my time," he insisted. "I'mma make sure I'm completely and fully healthy before I even step back on the floor."

Lowry, like many professional athletes, can be his own worst enemy when it comes to preserving his body in the midst of a long a grueling season. Despite some lingering soreness in his back after participating in practice Monday, the Raptors' all-star was adamant about playing in Detroit.

Toronto's medical staff played a part in the decision to sit him in Chicago and at home to the Knicks last week, but after ruling out any structural damage it's mostly on the player himself to disclose the severity of his pain.

The Raptors have 11 games to go, with only two coming against winning competition. They will clinch a playoff spot with their next win and need two more victories, or Celtics' losses, or a combination, to lock up their second straight division title. Once they do so they are guaranteed a top four seed, though they could still relinquish home-court advantage.

Without Lowry operating at something close to 100 per cent when the postseason begins in mid-April, Toronto is toast, regardless of seeding or opponent.

As a result, it would be surprise to see him return to the court in the month of March. He could require even more time off than that.

"It’s tough," DeRozan said. "I know how eager he is to want to be out there to help us win. To have an injury that is nagging like that, especially for him, I know is frustrating. Guys just have to pick it up."

THE BOTCHED PLAY

With 23 seconds remaining, Pistons up two, Reggie Jackson air-balled a three-pointer, leaving the door open for the Raptors to force overtime or win a game they probably had no business being in to begin with.

Down by as many as 18, Toronto trailed for most of the night.

With Casey declining to call his final timeout, Lou Williams brought the ball up and killed the clock. Running a play we frequently see from the high-scoring reserve at the end of quarters, Williams stepped back and launched a 27-foot three-ball that ultimately rimmed out, sealing Toronto's fate.

"We had just scored on the same play," Casey said after the game. "We call it the three-quarter fist. It’s a high pick and roll, for whatever reason Lou decided not to use it. Again, you have to trust it. The first screen didn’t set and we probably could have called a timeout with six seconds but I thought Lou would attack. It was a set play we had already called but we missed the screen."

Evidently Williams didn't get the message.

"We didn't call a play," Williams said. "Once I got across half-court and realized we weren't going to call a timeout, to me it became a routine play for me. If you've been watching Raptor basketball, right to left crossover three-point shot, that's just the shot I shoot at the end of quarters. So that was the same scenario for me. No different that the game was on the line. That's a shot I'm comfortable with, that's a shot that I make, that's the shot that I missed tonight."

"You've just got to do your job," he continued. "And again, if you look at every game when you give the ball to me at the end of the quarters I shoot the same exact shot. Because the game is on the line for me, there's no different pressure. It's a shot that I'm comfortable with. I shoot 90 per cent of my shots off balance. That's just how I shoot. If you look at my last shot it was the exact same shot, I happened to make that one, I missed this one. So big deal to be made out of it."

He's not wrong in that sense. If you're going to live with good Lou, the version that helped Toronto claw back with 15 of his 19 points in the second half, you have to live with bad Lou. He is who he is.

"If he makes that shot we go home happy," DeRozan said. "I’ve seen him make that shot hundreds of times with every team he’s played on. That’s Lou Williams’ shot. You have to live and die by it."

However you justify it, however you assign the blame, the most important possession of the game was wasted; thrown away. Casey could have called the timeout, drawing up a play and getting his team on the same page. Williams could have used the screen and gotten a higher percentage look. They could have come down, without the timeout, and taken advantage of a broken defence, taking a quick shot in the hopes of getting a rebound or extending the game if they missed.

"If I would have taken that shot there would have been questions so it can go either way," DeRozan continued. "We have to live with what we do."