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Raptors not satisfied with the way in which they achieved victory over Heat ... Spoelstra tips his hat to Casey, Toronto organization ... Mascot celebrates 1,000 games
You don’t have to go that far back in Raptors history to remember when a win, any win, was cause for celebration. That clearly is no longer the case.
The Raptors eked out a 115-112 win over a game Miami Heat club, but based on the post-game responses you would have thought they lost by a dozen.
It’s a testament to how high the expectations have risen within this club.
Head coach Dwane Casey was peeved. DeMar DeRozan was unimpressed. Kyle
Lowry, well, he doesn’t sweat the losses until they are actually losses, but he certainly wasn’t celebrating.
“I’m upset, even though we won because I know, I know what’s coming around the corner,” Casey said before branching off into a not-so-clear analogy about what awaits a team that fails to close out a game correctly in which it held a 15-point lead.
Casey’s analogy included a dark alley at midnight, men with baseball bats and the Raptors (we think) wondering aloud where the game was? In short, we believe Casey believes a team that thinks it can just coast home once it has a lead is in for a rude awakening.
DeRozan didn’t get into any analogies settling for calling it a terrible win. Lowry admitted everyone was displeased with the win but tipped his hat to the Heat for making the game tough.
“We’re professionals,” Casey said. “We’ve seen games like this before, we know what to do in those games. It’s a matter of attitude and making sure we execute. Not just on the offensive end, we had some piss-poor performances on the defensive end, too, with our switches.
“Coming together, understanding what they’re trying to do, not getting bogarted out of the way to make a pass. You can’t do that and close out games.”
If nothing else the coach should not have a problem getting the Raptors’ attention as they head into the all-star break with a final contest in Chicago tonight.
Incidentally, the Raptors assured themselves of going into the break with the best record in the Eastern Conference ... not that it seemed to matter to anyone.
IN PRAISE OF PATIENCE
The coaching fraternity is a strong one so it’s no surprise that Erik Spoelstra had a strong opinion on what he thought about Casey’s recent milestone of 300 wins as the Raptors bench boss.
“I think it’s great for coaching because coach Casey, like myself, has needed great stability and consistency and support from the organization and from ownership and management to be able to weather some storms and build a culture and find some success,” Spoelstra said. “Without that stability so many of us would have been cast aside. I think it’s a great reflection right now in some areas but in a lot of other places it’s still a turnstile.”
Spoelstra talks from experience having his own job speculated about on numerous occasions only for the Heat organization to shut out the noise and stick with the man they know.
“Yeah, it’s unfortunate,” Spoelstra said of the rarity of stability in today’s game. “That is how we all feel as coaches. I mean how many more coaches would have an opportunity like I’ve had or coach Casey has had if they had just had some stability.
“I say it all the time and people kind of laugh at it but it’s true,” Spoelstra said. “I probably would have been fired at least two or three times if I was with a different organization — at least (that many), maybe four or five times! You know, we’ve lost in the finals, we’ve had seasons where we didn’t make the playoffs. We’ve had stretches during regular seasons where we lost five straight. Coaches get fired for that. Coaches get fired for a lot less than that these days.”
DESERVED RECOGNITION
It was 1,000 games for the most consistently entertaining element of Raptors basketball. The team mascot, Raptor, celebrated that milestone last night and did so in style with friends including Stuff from Orlando, and a host of other mascots from around the NBA and the locals from the Blue Jays Ace to the Maple Leafs Carlton the Bear.
To be nice, no one in this city, let alone the NBA, holds a candle to Raptor for his creative skits and hi-jinks. He may not be quite as nimble as he was pre-Achilles Heel tear, but he remains full value for your entertainment dollar.
KERR HAS EARNED IT
There was much made of Golden State head coach Steve Kerr turning his clipboard over to his players and letting them basically do the sideline and coaching during timeouts that would normally be his domain in a win over Phoenix the other night.
Casey saw absolutely nothing wrong with it.
“It’s funny because I told Kyle a while ago that he could run a film system way before this,” Casey said. “We haven’t done it yet. But you’re looking for anything to keep guys focused.”
So no surprise that Casey was in favour of what Kerr tried but he cautions it’s not something any team could get away with.
“I like it, yes,” he said. “It works for certain teams, for his team, an older team, a veteran team, a successful team. I don’t know how much it would work for a young team, that has trouble keeping up with attention to detail. They can miss a detail and still make a three. They’re a little bit different. Everybody can’t be them.”