Casey finally has physically tough Raptors team he’d been wanting

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. Fist fights are not what he’s asking of his players, although in this case it did provide the spark that got the Raptors competing and fighting for the win.

And 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 one-game suspensions Wednesday for their roles in the incident — for evidence of the kind of fight he needs out of his 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.

The 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. “I think with him doing that it’s just going to propel us (further).”