Raptors’ Casey on hot seat

TORONTO — To DeMar DeRozan, regularseason and playoff basketball are as different as checkers and chess.

In LeBron James, DeRozan and the Toronto Raptors keep running into the ultimate grandmaster. Their inability to beat him might force coach Dwane Casey into a cruel checkmate.

Toronto’s postseason fizzled out against a familiar foe on Monday night (Tuesday Phl time) when James and the Cleveland Cavaliers finished off backto-back second-round sweeps of Toronto. It’s the third straight year the Cavs have bounced the Raptors from the playoffs.

After a franchise-record 59 wins, good for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, it was as tough a defeat as DeRozan has endured.

“This is probably the toughest, most frustrating, difficult, lowest feeling I’ve had,” DeRozan said.“You get to that point where you’re standing firm through everything and you feel like you can’t get knocked down again, and you realize you do get knocked back down again. It’s kind of the worst feeling.”

Teammate Kyle Lowry was equally gloomy, calling it a “wasted year” in spite of Toronto’s historic achievements.

“We felt like we could possibly make the NBA Finals,” Lowry said. “That was our goal.”

The series slipped away after a Game 1 loss in which the Raptors coughed up a 10-point lead in the fourth quarter, missed multiple potential winning baskets, and lost 113-112 in overtime.

Toronto nearly rallied to win Game 3, but James banked in a remarkable tiebreaking basket at the buzzer.

“There was opportunity there, we just didn’t seize it,” guard Fred VanVleet said. “These playoffs will be in the back of our minds all summer.”

Casey has coached Toronto since 2011, leading the team to five straight playoff appearances and three consecutive 50-win seasons. The Raptors have set franchise-record win totals in three of the past four years and finished atop the East for the first time this year.