Dwane Casey spoke to the media after the game and offered up an explanation why an isolation 28-footer with no passes made was the best shot the Raptors could get.
Here’s a Vine if you haven’t seen it, with Casey’s explanation being:
We just scored on the same play, what we call the ‘three-pointer fist’, high pick ‘n roll. For whatever reason, Lou decided not to use it, again, you got to trust it. The first screen didn’t set, I probably could’ve called a timeout with six seconds, but I thought Lou was going to attack.
It was a set play that we had already called, and we missed a screen.
Funnily enough, Lou Williams disagrees:
We didn’t call a play. Once I got across and realized we weren’t going to call a timeout, to me it became a routine play for me
Ouch, talk about player and coach being on different pages.
If you care to, you can watch the Casey’s interview and Williams’ interview..
Basically, Casey saw the play going south but instead of taking matters into his own hands, calling a timeout and organizing a set where only a two-pointer was needed, he decided to trust Lou Williams in an iso situation against a taller defender. I get that you have to trust players to make the calls in the heat of the moment, but did he seriously expect Williams, at that moment, to do anything different? Williams does that exact thing on 95% of end-of-quarter possessions, and he proved a creature of habit.
To me, this is taking the easy way out. Instead of drawing up a play with something going to the basket and perhaps forcing the whistle-happy officials to call something for DeRozan (they’d been doing it all night), we essentially opted for doing nothing and hoping for the best. Didn’t work.
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Side note: Spots are filling up for the Raptors Republic 3-on-3 Tournament, Summer Smackdown, set for June 21st in Toronto. Sign your team up now.
