— Blake Murphy (@BlakeMurphyODC) May 10, 2016
With a short turnaround time between Games 4 and 5 and the travel associated with it, the Toronto Raptors opted to have a light Tuesday. A film session was cancelled (or more likely, completed on the plane…or they just don’t want to watch that ugly game again), with only optional shooting and lifting on the docket.
That means that only Dwane Casey was made available to media. Here are some quick news and notes from his session, though it’s mostly just a quote dump since a lot of this stuff was covered off in posts this morning.
Other notes, before we start
*Hassan Whiteside has been ruled out for Game 5. He’s not traveling to Toronto. We covered this off here.
*Kyle Lowry finished 10th in MVP voting. We’ve got you here.
*DeMar DeRozan spoke about his struggles and free agency with Michael Lee of The Vertical. Again, we got you.
*Davion Berry was replaced at the D-League minicamp by Raptors 905 teammate Shannon Scott.
*I took a look at some of Casey’s decisions from Game 4. And then at some interesting play-calls from the game.
Casey speaks
*On why the defense struggled at times, and not just because of a smaller group: “I thought that was our biggest nemesis, containing the basketball. Dwyane Wade was just putting his head down and attacking our paint. I don’t care if you have Wilt Chamberlain or Bill Russell back there, one dribble to the rim and there are not many big guys that are going to get there. We’ve got to do a better job of buying time for our weakside help to get there more so than straight line drives to the rim.”
*On Lucas Nogueira stepping in: “I was proud of the way Lucas came in, hadn’t played in the whole series but was good to go and contribute what he could with Jonas going down.”
*On home-court advantage from here: “It’s great, it’s always good to be home. I thought our crowd helped us win Game 2. The crowd, the enthusiasm, we didn’t let the weight of the crowd weigh on us we played a little more free. At crunch time I though they brought us through at the end of the game which was huge for us.”
*On the clip of Kyle Lowry seeming angry in a late timeout: “That’s the problem with that: You have a lot of heated conversations in the huddles. I’m not sure what was said. There is so much being said at that time, so much going on after I make the call or whatever is going on. I’m not privy to what two guys are saying. I haven’t seen the video or talk to Kyle and Cory about what they were talking about.”
*On the final possession of regulation: “The last play (Monday) night was not an iso play. We had some difficulty trying to get a slip, trying to get another screen. Dwyane Wade, they did a great job of blowing it up, taking guys off their line, which, you have to give them credit. When he locks in Dwayne Wade is one of the top defenders in the league. Terrence was supposed to come up to that and he just got rolled out of that in that situation, but again those things happen. I still think Cory had a good look. It wasn’t like it was a bad shot. It wasn’t the shot we wanted but it didn’t work out the way we wanted it to. That happens in a game and you have to go to Plan B and Cory did a good job of getting a good look.”
*On DeMar DeRozan’s thumb: “It’s a little bit of both. He was having shooting woes before the thumb. But now he has the thumb and he’s dealing that along with the confidence in his shot and his offensive rhythm. So he’s got a double whammy. It’s something he wants to play with, he says he’s okay, he says he can go, but I see him losing the basketball in a crowd and guys hitting – when other teams know you have an injury, they’re going to whack at it. That’s why you don’t give out as much information as you need to. So now when he’s in a crowd, they’re going after his thumb, and rightfully so. Not intentionally, but they’re going after the ball, and his hand is right there. He’s going to have to manage the pain, get treatment today and tomorrow and see where it is.”
*And on sitting him for the long stretch in the second half: “His thumb was bothering his some, that’s another way of trying to find offense, trying to find a group that had a rhythm going. We were searching at that point and he wasn’t in that situation, but when Kyle got in foul trouble we went back to DeMar.”
Game 7 (or 1) goes at 3:30
Games 5 and 6 will both take place at 8 p.m. If there’s a Game 7, it will take place at 3:30 on Sunday. If there’s not a Game 7, the winner of the series will play in that time slot, anyway, for Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals.
Assorted
*The Heat had limited availability, too, with Erik Spoelstra made available for this gem over a conference call.
Spoelstra talking about Steph Curry and his 3s, then says “We’re trying to break records for how few 3s we can make, after last night.”
— Chris O’Leary (@olearychris) May 10, 2016
*Here’s some other fun stuff.
Chris Bosh’s SnapChat offering today. pic.twitter.com/Zo5bHUltjK
— Ira Winderman (@IraHeatBeat) May 10, 2016
crazy stat: wade leads NBA w/ 99 made field goals this postseason. durant second w/ 84 heading into tonight’s game. https://t.co/jrCjXlwxC7
— kelly cohen (@politiCOHEN_) May 10, 2016
*ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported Monday that there is “uneasy tension” between Dwyane Wade and Goran Dragic. Spoelstra shot that down, per Barry Jackson: “It’s silly. Goran and Dwyane, not only are they playing much better with each other, which takes time — they’re both aggressive ball dominant players — but they enjoy each other. They enjoy when the other guy is able to be aggressive. They want each other to be able to play their games. And it’s getting better.”
I don’t believe there’s much here, not with the focus on the playoffs, but here’s hoping there is. Maybe it will mean Wade stops killing the Raptors.
*The Officials Last Two Minute Report showed two botched calls in each direction. Miami got away with a Joe Johnson shooting foul on Cory Joseph (4:42, OT) and a Dwyane Wade travel (4:24, OT), while the Raptors got away with a DeMar DeRozan travel (0:48.1, Q4) and a DeMarre Carroll shooting foul on Goran Dragic (2:10, OT). There’s been no word on Dragic’s swing at Joseph in any form.
*Casey had this gem: “I’m sleeping like a baby…waking up and crying.”
