Catching Up with the 'Cats: Lowry's Bump in the Road

Randy Foye

It was another steady week for Randy Foye, as he and the Denver Nuggets hit the home stretch of their season. While it wasn't Foye's most impressive showing from distance, the shooting guard managed to contribute in a multitude of methods. Foye tossed in 20 points on 4-7 shooting from beyond the arc in a blowout loss to the San Antonio Spurs. He followed it up with an all-around solid night against the Memphis Grizzlies, scoring 13 and adding 9 boards and 4 assists in a losing effort.

On the season, the guard out of Villanova has done his best to keep the Nuggets afloat amidst a dangerously potent Western Conference. Foye has demonstrated a remarkable ability to adapt to whatever his current team needs. Two years ago, he helped facilitate the Clippers offense when Chris Paul sat. With the Nuggets, Foye has exceeded his career high three-point percentage and offered a scoring punch on an otherwise toothless Nuggets squad.

In fact, Foye's efforts from downtown have cemented his spot among the record books. Randy is currently tied at fourth on the Nuggets' all-time single season three point record with 166 makes. Ahead of him lie Dan Ellis with 192 made long-bombs, followed by JR Smith and Michael Adams.

The former All-American stayed true to form and offered a humble response to his success in an NBA.com article. "'For me making the 3s, I have to give a lot of credit to my teammates and the coaching staff to put me in that position,' Foye said. 'Ty Lawson, being a point guard, finds me a lot. We've built some unbelievable chemistry.'"

With eight games remaining in the season, it's certainly not out of the question for Foye to ascend to the top of the list. A mere 26 connections from deep separate him from Ellis, or less than four per game. And considering the way Randy has shown the ability to heat up from three point land, I wouldn't bet against him...

Kyle Lowry

It wasn't defensive schemes, an elite defender, or a dreadful shooting slump that finally put a damper on Kyle Lowry's torrid pace this season. Instead, it was sports' great equalizer--a knee injury. In the Toronto Raptors' contest against the Miami Heat Monday night, Lowry and King James' knees collided with each other on a rebound attempt. Check it out here.

Fortunately for fans of the Raptors and Lowry alike, it appears that he was able to avoid any structural damage; the injury appears to be a bone bruise; X-rays Tuesday night came back negative. Most likely, Kyle will be relegated to day-to-day status to give him a chance to heal up for the playoffs. The Raptors are firmly locked in the playoffs, and are almost guaranteed the third or fourth seed. They have room to play this one safe.

Before the injury took place, Lowry's week was mild by his standards. He logged a nice 23 points, 9 rebound, and 4 assist effort against the Boston Celtics, but otherwise managed average stats prior to his early departure against the Heat. But most importantly, the Raptors won their three games with a healthy Lowry this week. Considering the previous years the franchise has endured, that is a fact fans will gladly accept.

But not all was dreary this week. Check out another highlight reel of the star guard below:

Kyle Lowry-The revelation [HD] NBA Mix (via mixbos NBA)

The Revelation......kind of sums up his season, doesn't it?

Dante Cunningham

Dante Cunningham is, if anything, consistent. In his four games this past week, he strung together nights of 4,8,6, and 8. I'm no math major, but Cunningham must have one of the lowest standard deviations for points in the league. But considering the low amount of minutes Dante is afforded, he certainly makes the most of them. In his past four games, the Timberwolves forward has gathered a very solid shooting percentage of just above 60% from the floor.

Part of Cunningham's receding allotment of minutes is in light of the emergence of a player Villanova fans are very familiar with--Gorgui Dieng. The rookie out of Louisville has burst onto the scene to provide the Wolves with desperately needed size and production out of their depleted rotation at center.

With Dieng's emergence and Coach Rick Adelman's seeming inability to trust Dante with large chunks of minutes, it's likely that Cunningham will have to find a new home this summer.

Maalik Wayns

Maalik Wayns did not participate in any of the three Rio Grande Valley Vipers contests this past week. The guard was inactive with an apparent knee injury. Wayns has not appeared in a game since March 21st. With his absence, the Vipers season has turned south quickly, losing six in a row and dropping to fourth in the D-league playoff standings; they formally reigned as first overall. Hopefully, Wayns is able to make a quick recovery and right the Vipers sinking ship.

Maurice Sutton

He's back! After mysteriously disappearing form the Tulsa 66ers box score for multiple games last week (as in he wasn't listed), Maurice Sutton returned with a vengeance to dominate the D-League. He turned in two solid performance of 11 and 8 points along with 6 rebounds in each contest. These aren't groundbreaking stats, but we're lucky enough to see Sutton fighting for another day.

Thanks for reading everyone!