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NBA playoffs: Kyle Lowry expects amped-up Philly crowd for Raptors-Sixers Game 3

“It is going to be loud,” the Philadelphia native said. “We have a good team, we have a veteran team, where we know the crowd doesn’t really affect what we do.”

Toronto point guard Kyle Lowry, a Philadelphia native, knows what the Raptors are up against when they face the 76ers in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series at the Wells Fargo Center.
Toronto point guard Kyle Lowry, a Philadelphia native, knows what the Raptors are up against when they face the 76ers in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series at the Wells Fargo Center.Read moreCHARLES FOX / Staff Photographer

Toronto point guard Kyle Lowry knows what the Raptors are up against when they face the 76ers in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series at the Wells Fargo Center.

The best-of-seven series is tied at 1-1 after the Sixers’ 94-89 win on Monday in Toronto.

A Philadelphia product who attended Cardinal Dougherty and Villanova, Lowry is well aware of the passionate Sixers fan base.

“It is going to be loud,” Lowry said before the Raptors’ late-morning shootaround. “We have a good team, we have a veteran team, where we know the crowd doesn’t really affect what we do.”

The key, according to Lowry, is playing like a veteran team.

“We have to go out there, stay poised, play our game, stay level-headed, stay level-minded,” he said. “Don’t get too up, don’t’ get too down, pretty much what we have been doing all year.”

This is Lowry’s 13th NBA season and it will be his first playoff game in Philadelphia. He said he was last here for a postseason game in 2008, as a spectator when the Sixers lost a first-round series to the Detroit Pistons.

“It’s going to be a good game,” Lowry predicted. “It’s going to be fun in here.”

Toronto had the third best road record in the NBA (26-15) and the Raptors won their two road games in their opening five-game series over Orlando.

If the first two games of this series are any indication, getting off to a quick start will be key, especially as a way to quiet the Sixers fans.

In Toronto’s 108-95 Game 1 win, the host Raptors led 39-31 after the first quarter and 62-51 at halftime. During the Sixers win on Monday, they led 26-17 after one and 51-38 at halftime.

“It’s going to be important, every game is important to go out and start the game the right way," Lowry said. “Make shots, not turn the ball over and make sure we get back in transition and play solid all the way through each possession will be big.”

Lowry, who has been an all-star each of the last five years, is averaging 14.5 points, 6.5 assists, and 4.0 rebounds in 40 minutes per game during the first two against the Sixers.

In Monday’s loss, the Raptors shot just 33 for 91 from the field (36.3 percent), including 10 of 37 (27 percent) from three-point range.

“We missed a lot of shots,” Lowry said. “We will be ready to go. When tonight happens, we will be ready to play.”