National Post (National Edition)
RAPTORS SHOWING PLENTY OF FIGHTING SPIRIT
CASEY FINALLY HAS PHYSICAL TEAM HE’S WANTED, BUT NOT NECESSARILY ONE THAT THROWS HAYMAKERS
Dwane Casey may not share Brian Burke’s extended vocabulary, but the Toronto Raptors head coach has been asking for the same thing from his team that Burke famously demanded some 8½ years ago when he took over the Leafs.
In his introduction to Toronto back in November 2008, Burke famously set the tone for the Leafs under his guidance, stating he would require “proper levels of pugnacity, testosterone, truculence and belligerence” from all his players.
Casey hasn’t been quite so fancy with the lingo, but through his five years as Raptors head coach his message has been more or less the same. From his players he wanted a level of physicality superior to what the opponents brought to the court, and that combined with a solid talent base would result in the Raptors winning more often than they would lose.
With P.J. Tucker and Serge Ibaka in the fold since the trade deadline, joining a group that already did not shy away from the more physical aspects of the game, Casey probably has right now the kind of team he identifies with best.
But don’t misinterpret what happened with just under four minutes to go in the third quarter of Tuesday’s big win over the Chicago Bulls as Casey’s definition of physical play. Fistfights are not what he’s asking for, although in this case it did provide the spark that got the Raptors competing and fighting for the win.
And certainly don’t go looking to the 32 minutes that preceded that difference of opinion between Ibaka and Robin Lopez — both of whom were hit with onegame suspensions Wednesday for their roles in the incident — for evidence of the kind of fight he needs out of his team.
The exchange between Lopez and Ibaka was nothing more than a product of that physicality when things go a little overboard.
Casey isn’t looking for his team to start throwing overhand lefts and rights.
What he’s looking for and what he is getting is a team that will not allow itself to be dominated physically by another team.
Basketball may not condone open court tackling or hitting, but it is a very physical game and more often than not, the team that wins the physical battles wins the basketball games.
In that regard, Tucker and Ibaka are the perfect additions. Neither gives an inch on the court. Everything you get against those two is earned.
Tucker’s line on Tuesday night did not jump off the box score like the 42 points beside DeMar DeRozan’s name, but his final 21 minutes were every bit as important to the outcome as DeRozan’s offensive contributions.
What Tucker did was take a very determined Jimmy Butler, a guy who is accustomed to having the ball in his hands when games need deciding, and forced him to give it up because Tucker simply refused to give him an opening.
Butler wound up with 37 points on the night, but over those final 21 minutes he had just 13 with Tucker hounding him relentlessly throughout.
“What we needed was just a toughness,” Tucker said of turning a 16-point deficit into a muchneeded win. “Picking guys up, making them turn the ball over. If you sit back and let teams move the ball and get into their offences you’re not going to get any stops, you’re not going to turn the momentum. I was telling guys those first two plays where we got the steals, went down and got the layups, then got fouled, that’s the momentum shift. Now it’s time to pick guys up, especially on that second unit where they didn’t have really good ball handlers in the game.”
That is the very definition of the fight Casey has been asking for from his teams for five years.
The other thing about playing tough defensive-minded basketball is that it’s contagious. You don’t have to look any further than DeRozan rising up in front of a charging Joffrey Lauvergne, who is coming at him with both speed and size and blocking the Bulls’ young big man at the rim.
DeRozan averages a block about once every five games, but we can’t recall a rejection like that by the Raps’ high scoring guard in his Toronto tenure.
Give DeRozan all the credit for that, but know that Tucker played a role in that one, too. He’s been in DeRozan’s ear about expanding his defensive responsibilities the past couple of weeks and it’s paying off.
“That’s what we need,” Tucker said. “If we’re going to take this to another level we need him to pick up his defence. He’s been doing it, he’s been chasing guys off screens, rebounding the ball, he’s been doing things on defence and doing what he does on offence. I think with him doing that it’s just going to propel us (further).”