Casey not happy after loss to Heat

[Bendit]

I'd offer that the team is a bit tired as well. The Wizards game 4th qtr was a bad/tired one too...it makes for mind tricks and weary legs. Hope they have some juice left for Indy.

[S.R.]

I'd offer that the team is a bit tired as well. The Wizards game 4th qtr was a bad/tired one too...it makes for mind tricks and weary legs. Hope they have some juice left for Indy.

This has been a recurring thought for me - I hope I'm wrong on this.

Matt and Jack kept talking about the "playoff atmosphere" when the Pacers were in Toronto. Which was true - the Raps have been playing "playoff basketball." Only there's a reason the really good teams don't play in high gear all season long - you burn yourself out, become more prone to injuries, etc. Really good teams play as well as they need to in the regular season to achieve their goals and be ready, fresh, and healthy for the playoffs. Is the Raps intensity level sustainable? Can they keep this level of effort up for the entire remainder of the season? Are they gonna burn out or have a let down once they start playing crappy teams after the next Indy game? I'm not sure.

[GameBreaker]

He's not wrong. Derozen really screwed the pooch there in the fourth.

DeRozan is the reason they were IN it.

[Uncle_Si]

DeRozan is the reason they were IN it.

Up until the fourth DD played well, made some poor decisions in the 4th though

[bryan colangelo]

Casey's contract is expiring.

He knows that he needs to prove that he can do more than develop a team if he wants to keep his job. He has to demonstrate the potential to coach a contender. Part of that is holding the team to a higher standard.

[e_wheazhy_]

This has been a recurring thought for me - I hope I'm wrong on this.

Matt and Jack kept talking about the "playoff atmosphere" when the Pacers were in Toronto. Which was true - the Raps have been playing "playoff basketball." Only there's a reason the really good teams don't play in high gear all season long - you burn yourself out, become more prone to injuries, etc. Really good teams play as well as they need to in the regular season to achieve their goals and be ready, fresh, and healthy for the playoffs. Is the Raps intensity level sustainable? Can they keep this level of effort up for the entire remainder of the season? Are they gonna burn out or have a let down once they start playing crappy teams after the next Indy game? I'm not sure.

Or maybe the raps will realize they're a good team and once the level of opponents gets worse, they'll be able to turn down the intensity and "play as well as they need to to win"


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[Miekenstien]

Casey's contract is expiring.

He knows that he needs to prove that he can do more than develop a team if he wants to keep his job. He has to demonstrate the potential to coach a contender. Part of that is holding the team to a higher standard.

i don't think casey is coaching with his job in mind at all. i think this is just another motivation tactic. when the team was struggling he gives positives because the last thing he needs is a losing team losing more confidence and now that the team has, recently, turned a corner he can't praise failure or the team will lose it's hunger.

this is just basic team growth, i doubt there is any political spin. this team wanted this win bad and they lost it not because the heat played better but because they dropped 20% in free throws and missed a gimme at the end.

[Miekenstien]

This has been a recurring thought for me - I hope I'm wrong on this.

Matt and Jack kept talking about the "playoff atmosphere" when the Pacers were in Toronto. Which was true - the Raps have been playing "playoff basketball." Only there's a reason the really good teams don't play in high gear all season long - you burn yourself out, become more prone to injuries, etc. Really good teams play as well as they need to in the regular season to achieve their goals and be ready, fresh, and healthy for the playoffs. Is the Raps intensity level sustainable? Can they keep this level of effort up for the entire remainder of the season? Are they gonna burn out or have a let down once they start playing crappy teams after the next Indy game? I'm not sure.

watch a indy/miami game. when the big teams meet each other they play to win all the time.

[isaacthompson]

Or maybe the raps will realize they're a good team and once the level of opponents gets worse, they'll be able to turn down the intensity and "play as well as they need to to win"


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I don't think this level of effort is sustainable for the rest of the season, but I also don't like the idea of this. Playing down to the level of worse opponents and losing games has been a big problem the last 3-4 years.

If turning down the intensity is the plan, then the team needs to come up with a way to decrease the effort AND play well enough to win the game. The second part has rarely ever been there.

[ezz_bee]

I hope the ol' ball coach isn't happy after a loss. If he did express such a feeling, and I was the man he was reporting to, I'd have to take him out back and have a little talk with him.

I disagree with the above. To win in the long run you need to be able to play at a high level, I'd much rather lose a game where the team played at a high level, then to win a game with poor execution. Losing the right way is certainly valuable and CAN be something that coaches/mgmt can be happy with.

[ezz_bee]

I don't think this level of effort is sustainable for the rest of the season, but I also don't like the idea of this. Playing down to the level of worse opponents and losing games has been a big problem the last 3-4 years.

If turning down the intensity is the plan, then the team needs to come up with a way to decrease the effort AND play well enough to win the game. The second part has rarely ever been there.

Miami is one of the worst teams in the league in terms of playing down to he level of their opponents both in the regular season and the playoffs. Although I agree that you can't play at a crazy high level for weeks/months on end I am not really concerned about burn-out. The main reason being is that it isn't that hard to to get past it and back to playing well. Good teams usually only go through a bad stretch for 3-10 games, before getting back on track. The only worry is if that burn out happens right at the start of the playoffs, which I don't think is very unlikely. The raps will probably go through a few stretches of good and bad play before the season is over. Hopefully though they continue to be better at the peaks and not quite as bad at the lows.

[psrs1]

I liked it. It was nice to see him being hard on his team, but also not single anyone out. The little things add up, especially in playoff type basketball. Can't afford a couple of missed layups/gimmies. Or shooting 20% below your normal team FT%. Or 3rd chance opportunities for the other team. The trick is getting that message through to the team without getting them to start overthinking everything they do.

Agreed.