So, yes, Karter Lowry is a lucky little 5-month-old. Talent and money are the least of Karter's good fortune.
When Karter was born last summer, Kyle vowed to be an All-Star father. The sort of father he never had.
"I learned from one great parent," he said. "And I learned from the other one what I'm never going to be."
That's what he told Dave Distel, a former assistant at Dougherty and Kyle's father figure, during one of their frequent golf matches last summer.
Outside the locker room Monday, when the Rockets defeated the Wizards, Lowry's mother, Marie Holloway, heard that story. She paused, and she fanned her face. A single tear slowly trickled from the corner of her left eye and down a cheek still impossibly dewy after 50 years of a hard, poor life. Delicately, with her middle finger, she wipes it away and says:
"No mother could be prouder than I am. He's just amazing."
She composes herself and continues, now harder:
"He still has a long way to go."
Lowry entered last night averaging 17.6 points, 9.0 assists and 2.09 steals. He is the biggest reason Houston has surged to 7-7 after a 2-6 start.
He also leads the league's guards with 6.7 rebounds a game, 1.6 offensive rebounds a game - or, almost two extra possessions per game.
Lowry's last-second tip-in against Notre Dame is part of Villanova legend. He had three late offensive rebounds in the pivotal Game 4 playoff win over Portland in 2009. His offensive board in the fourth quarter in D.C. on Monday helped ice the win.
He is 6-foot, 175 pounds. How?
"Kyle is very strong. He doesn't take any time off on the floor. He's got a low center of gravity, and he's great at pursuing the ball," says cerebral Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.
Rockets assistant Brett Gunning, an assistant at 'Nova when Lowry was there, puts it more simply:
"He's a pit bull," Gunning says. "How can you teach that?"
You don't. Fortunately for Karter, it's in the genes.
