MIAMI—At his best as a member of the Toronto Raptors, Kyle Lowry had a big hand in delivering the knockout blow to the reeling Golden State Warriors in a championship-clinching Game 6 back in 2019.
A mere season opener offers no such opportunity for a career-defining statement. But if Lowry ended his nine-year run with the Raptors in part because the Miami Heat sold a vision of a roster stocked with like-minded “winners” — savvy competitors who care less about their stat line than the scoreboard — Lowry’s first game with his new team was an awfully loud announcement of the Heat’s lofty intent.