The short-handed Raptors beat the short-handed Hornets, ending a streak of five years without a win in Charlotte.
Casey was quick to point out Tyler Hansbrough as a key contributor:
Tyler gave us all the energy in the world. I thought he was the MVP, 12 rebounds, 12 points, he gave us the toughness inside that we need.
His energy was infectious, he got in there and made things tough for everybody, just gave us a lot in our pick ‘n roll defense, him and [Patrick Patterson].
Commenting further on the aforementioned pick ‘n roll defense:
I thought our pick ‘n roll defense was pretty good with [Patterson] and [Hansbrough]. They had the speed and quickness of get up and bother [Kemba Walker], who is a tough pick ‘n roll player. Same thing with [Mo Williams]. But they did a good job of getting out and impacting the ball.
Casey also spoke about experimenting with Jonas Valanciunas, and giving him an opportunity to be disciplined when playing with early fouls:
[We were] looking at [Jonas Valanciunas] trying to play with two fouls, to get him some experience in doing that. It didn’t work out too well. He got three quick ones in the first half. He’s got to learn how to play and play smart with two fouls. But overall, the bigs did a good job.
Casey also credited much-maligned Instagram All-Star, Greivis Vasquez on his play:
Greivis played solid. I thought he did a good job of running the show, running the offense. He did a decent job defensively, getting into the ball, not getting blown-by, which was huge. That was a solid, solid job.
The quest for 50 remains on with four games remaining.
