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Jensen: Kyle Lowry, fresh off Olympic gold, holds hoops clinic in Philly

Kyle Lowry moved between the young basketball players, ball in his hand, familiar half-smile usually on his face. To 11-year-old Tai-Oni Walker, Lowry mentioned how she dribbled so fast. Walker smiled and then showed some real instincts, grabbing a pass someone threw toward her face as she talked to Lowry.

Kyle Lowry moved between the young basketball players, ball in his hand, familiar half-smile usually on his face.

To 11-year-old Tai-Oni Walker, Lowry mentioned how she dribbled so fast. Walker smiled and then showed some real instincts, grabbing a pass someone threw toward her face as she talked to Lowry.

He stepped toward some teenagers taking jump shots, offering a moment of defense they could take home with them.

To a little boy, Lowry said, "Go behind your back." The 5-year-old with the nice handle was Lowry's own son, Karter.

"Kids are funny - they say some hilarious things," Lowry said during a pizza break Saturday at the all-day clinic he sponsored at the Mastery Charter School on Wayne Avenue in Germantown. "They're like, 'I think I can beat you one-on-one.' "

The clinic had been scheduled for a couple of weeks ago, but it turned out Lowry was a little busy then, representing the United States in Rio.

One little guy asked if Lowry knew he had made somebody fall during an Olympics game.

"I just try to have fun with them. I try to let them know, I'm just me, I'm a kid at heart," Lowry said.

But here's the thing: Lowry is the first men's player who grew up in the city ever to win Olympic men's basketball gold, joining another point guard from North Philadelphia, Dawn Staley, who won women's gold. (Kobe Bryant from Lower Merion won gold in Beijing and London, Michael Brooks from West Catholic and La Salle would have been favored to win '80 gold if the United States hadn't boycotted, and Mike Bantom from Roman Catholic and Saint Joseph's was part of the most contested silver medal in men's basketball history in 1972.)

Did Lowry bring his gold medal?

"No, I left it home today," he said. "I forgot it. The thing gets heavy after a while."

Lowry had received a lot of compliments for his Olympic play. Asked what was the nicest one, he said, "Coach Boeheim said something unbelievable." Jim Boeheim, the Syracuse coach and an assistant to Mike Krzyzewski on this U.S. team, afterward called Lowry "the best team player" on the squad.

"Just my teammates respecting me, and respecting what I've done, and Coach K saying some nice comments, but just the fact I can bring the medal back home, that was a compliment in itself," Lowry continued. "It was an honor for me to do that. I was able to give back to my country and bring it back. There's nothing better than that."

Favorite memory from Rio: "Just being around the guys. Having fun every day, and growing as a brotherhood."

He added this point immediately: "Once it's NBA season, it doesn't matter. It's all fair between those lines."

Just before the pizza break, Lowry got in a little impromptu one-on-one battle with his wife, Ayahna Cornish-Lowry, at a side basket. It was anything-goes defense. Ayahna had played ball herself at St. Joe's.

"She was hurting me a little bit,'' Lowry said. "She's a competitor."

The free clinic put on by Lowry's foundation and the NBA was at Mastery Charter because Lowry grew up two houses down from Mastery Charter basketball coach Terrence Cook.

"Our parents grew up together," Cook said. "When he calls, I'd do anything for him."

"As much as he gives to the kids in this area, it's the perfect place to have it,'' Lowry said.

After the morning session, Philadelphia City Representative Sheila Hess stopped by with a proclamation from the city honoring Lowry and his Olympic achievement. "Today is Lowry Love Benefit Day in Philadelphia," Hess said.

It seemed as if Lowry, 30, a former Villanova star who made the All-Star Game for the Toronto Raptors the last two seasons, and the NBA Eastern Conference finals this past season, couldn't go 10 feet Saturday without running into somebody he's known forever. That part of it was real special, Lowry said, sharing laughs and stories that go back decades.

Back in the country for less than a week and on the go, is he a little exhausted?

"No, never exhausted,'' Lowry said. "This is life. Ball is life."

And Lowry understands a gold medal stays with him his entire life.

"That's to the grave,'' Lowry said. "That might get buried with me, or I pass it on my kids."

mjensen@phillynews.com

@jensenoffcampus