‘I'm proud of them’
For Casey and the Raptors, it was an all-star game love-fest
LOS ANGELES — Dwane Casey was having a quick chat a couple of hours before the 2018 NBA all-star game, when a couple of familiar faces rolled up.
It was his two Toronto Raptors all-stars, DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, and while there were smiles and hugs, there was also a fair bit of trash-talking.
“Oh, are you plotting against us?” one of them asked with a laugh.
For once, it was a fair question. For one night, the pillars of the greatest run in Raptors franchise history weren’t all on the same side.
Later Sunday, DeRozan and Lowry, members of Team Stephen Curry, fell 148-145 to the Casey-helmed Team LeBron James at Staples Center.
Inside of the final minute, Team Stephen head coach Mike D’Antoni even handed his clipboard to Lowry to design a play for DeRozan. After the game, Lowry also said, “I knew the last play (Team LeBron) were running.”
It was a bit of a bizarre night for the Raptors contingent, which also included Casey’s assistant coaches.
“That was tough … I love both of them as sons,” Casey said afterward.
“You look out there and you’re yelling at the guys to get up on them, to push them, and to play DeMar’s left-hand or right-hand, and push him left.
“All those things that you fight against as a coach. Those things are the things that you feel bad about, but, again, those two have carried us and pushed us, and taken us in the conversation of being one of the top teams in the league … I’m proud of them for where they came from, and they’ve made themselves multi-time allstars.”
The relationship with Casey and DeRozan, the longest-serving Raptor was always a good one, because DeRozan is an extremely hard worker and is low maintenance, like Casey, the NBA lifer. But things with Lowry were different, as has been well-documented.
Both Casey and Lowry admit they can be stubborn and they butted heads many times until they finally got each other. Now, Lowry says he “loves” Casey back and it is a tremendous partnership, even if they might have differing opinions of what to do in certain situations.
“It was fun. I love Casey. He’s been a great coach to me, he’s been fantastic to me,” Lowry said, as his two sons sat on his lap post-game.
Toronto enters the second half of the season first in the East and in search of extended playoff success.
“It was good for the whole organization, the country, the city,” Casey told Postmedia of the weekend as a whole.
“You know, seven years ago, where we started (deadlast defensively with little talent on the roster) and we’re still not a finished product yet, it just shows that patience and continuity, no matter how much you rush it, we all want it yesterday, it doesn’t happen that way.”
Patience has paid off. For the Raptors, and for Casey.
“I love to see him coaching the East all-stars, love to see him having success in Toronto, because I’ve seen him as an assistant and seen how much hard work he puts into it,” one-time Casey protege Rashard Lewis told Postmedia.
“It means a lot to me, he’s almost like a father figure, because I went to the Seattle SuperSonics as a teenager. (Casey and fellow Seattle assistant Nate McMillan) kind of took me in, took me under their wings. Taught me like I was one of their own kids, to be a professional, to be a young man off of the court.
“To see him being a head coach and how much success he’s having, it’s almost like (I’m) a proud son.”
Casey and the Raptors have proven a lot, but they will now be judged on what comes next. And they are taking steps to make sure they are ready.
“It will be a couple of days off, but then it will be business as usual,” Casey said.
Coming through in the clutch more effectively is a priority.
“When we’re in close games, finishing better. Making sure we stick with what we do, and make sure our defence stays tight,” was how Lowry summed up what must come next.
“What do we do now in a close game? What do we do now? Developing that edge, that toughness. Like tomorrow, adversity is coming,” Casey said on a television broadcast during the weekend.
He’s got that right.