TORONTO -- All-Star point guard Kyle Lowry didn't participate in the Toronto Raptors' shootaround Friday morning and will be a game-time decision for Game 3 against the Cleveland Cavaliers due to a left ankle sprain.
"It's still pretty sore," Lowry said. "I have to be able to go out there and play, play defense, run up and down, make cuts, and I think the making cuts part will be most important. Going straight forward will be OK."
If Lowry can't play, Cory Joseph likely would start in his place.
Lowry, who battled a lower back injury in the first round, suffered the ankle injury early in the third quarter of Toronto's Game 2 loss. It is an unusual sprain because Lowry turned the ankle inward instead of outward, like typical basketball-related sprains. Lowry said it was high on his ankle but wasn't a "high ankle sprain."
"This one is a little bit different," Lowry said. "I want to be out there 100 percent with my teammates, playing and trying to win games, protecting home court. I wish I could be out there with my teammates. That's the goal. The goal is just to play. I have to wait."
Lowry has averaged 20 points and eight assists per game in the series.