Everything Dwane Casey

[Nilanka]

Lowry and Derozan?

Have you been watching the playoffs?

Have they been awful in the PNR? I haven't seen that.

I've seen driving into multiple defenders, or taking long/contested shots.

[JimiCliff]

Have they been awful in the PNR? I haven't seen that.

I've seen driving into multiple defenders, or taking long/contested shots.

I don't trust them to run anything in the clutch. And clearly, Casey doesn't either.

[Nilanka]

I don't trust them to run anything in the clutch. And clearly, Casey doesn't either.

Our players suck in the clutch because Casey does a poor job of teaching/generating high percentage looks, which leads to poor execution in the cluch, which leads to Casey not trusting his players in the clutch, which leads to our clutch stats dropping, which leads to Casey not trusting his players in the clutch.

[JimiCliff]

Our players suck in the clutch because Casey does a poor job of teaching/generating high percentage looks, which leads to poor execution in the cluch, which leads to Casey not trusting his players in the clutch, which leads to our clutch stats dropping, which leads to Casey not trusting his players in the clutch.

To a certain degree this is true. That said, it's been pretty clear to me since he came into the league that Demar doesn't have the clutch gene, and shouldn't be relied on to make big plays in big moments.

[Nilanka]

To a certain degree this is true. That said, it's been pretty clear to me since he came into the league that Demar doesn't have the clutch gene, and shouldn't be relied on to make big plays in big moments.

Definitely agree on DeMar.

But still don't agree that a Lowry/Jonas PNR in that dying moment, would've been too risky though. I mean, if we can't trust our allstar point guard to run the most basic play in basketball, we've got serious issues.

Maybe that's the take-away message here. The Raptors have serious issues, full stop.

[JimiCliff]

The Raptors have serious issues, full stop.

Trust me, I do not dispute this.

But that said, we're 1-1 in the second round! And I, for one, am engaging in some inspired mental gymnastics to let me enjoy the ride as much as I can.

[Deino]

Our players suck in the clutch because Casey does a poor job of teaching/generating high percentage looks, which leads to poor execution in the cluch, which leads to Casey not trusting his players in the clutch, which leads to our clutch stats dropping, which leads to Casey not trusting his players in the clutch.

Yeah,anybody believe that out of bound play that ended up with JV's nice pass to Caroll for a layup was drawn in that timeout on the coach's board ?? even though they're both capable of that kind of play,maybe should try more actual set plays like that.

[S.R.]

Remember way back at the start of the year when the offense looked awful, everyone thought this team might not be able to score this year, and Casey was all "Don't worry guys, I'm not worried about our offense we just go to work on the D." Well the D looks good, but it sure looks like they could have invested some more time + effort into the offense...

Playoff freelancing with guys shooting 30% and bad play after bad play.

[Apollo]

Remember way back at the start of the year when the offense looked awful, everyone thought this team might not be able to score this year, and Casey was all "Don't worry guys, I'm not worried about our offense we just go to work on the D." Well the D looks good, but it sure looks like they could have invested some more time + effort into the offense...

Playoff freelancing with guys shooting 30% and bad play after bad play.

First rule of Ride or Die is you don't worry about Ride or Die.

[Doc]

This is a good read and couldn't be more right in my opinion: Deadspin

I mean, just what the hell is that? Either Casey’s end-of-game playbook is just an index card with “score a hoop” written on it, or his players are completely ignoring his instructions in crunch time. Neither scenario makes him seem like a coach who is fit to lead a playoff team, especially one with as many deficiencies as these Raptors. A team doesn’t need to be perfect to make a spirited playoff run, but it at least needs to be talented or smart. Right now, Dwane Casey and the Raptors are neither of those things.

[Just Is]

This is a good read and couldn't be more right in my opinion: Deadspin

Ouch.

I do disagree though (partially). The Raptors are a talented team who are playing way below their talent level.

[Letter N]

The whole team, but Casey especially, plays to not lose rather than to win. Under 4 minutes with a lead the strategy basically becomes "don't turn the ball over and survive."

So the ending of every game that we're up goes the same way, hold the ball for 18 seconds, don't pass since passing could lead to turnovers, drive in a little and take a long contested jumper. It's inefficient, rarely successful but also rarely causes a turnover. It is the equivalent of a corner route to the end zone in football, you know it's usually not going to workout but at least as the coach you can't get blamed since it's never going to be an interception, and 1 out of 5 times that it does work you can pretend you knew what you were doing. And 1 out of 5 times when their long contested two does go Casey acts like it worked.

You can never win if you're always afraid to lose.

[S.R.]

Ouch.

I do disagree though (partially). The Raptors are a talented team who are playing way below their talent level.

The fact that they are 6-5 in the playoffs right now is a credit to doing all the things that don't catch highlight reel attention - effort, defence, contributions from across the roster.

But it is crazy that anybody in the Raptors' locker room is pretending those end of game plays are normal/okay. They're not. Teams run plays - maybe it gets disrupted, maybe you get your look but miss the shot, maybe you score, whatever. But teams come out of a TO and run a play. It's really, really weird when they come down the floor, dribble time off the clock, then jack a bad shot and miss. Nobody does that in the NBA. There's no excuse.

Also can we please stop giving opposing guards layups and dunks in late game situations. Everybody's so scared of fouling they're giving up easy baskets in under 5 seconds of possession time. It's not helping.

[Doc]

Ouch.

I do disagree though (partially). The Raptors are a talented team who are playing way below their talent level.

No doubt that they're underachieving, but this is down right terrible. And I don't want to hear the list of injuries as excuses this off-season. Outside of Wade, we shouldn't be struggling this bad against Miami. No disrespect meant towards the Heat, but we have way more talent as team then they do.

[Letter N]

No doubt that they're underachieving, but this is down right terrible. And I don't want to hear the list of injuries as excuses this off-season. Outside of Wade, we shouldn't be struggling this bad against Miami. No disrespect meant towards the Heat, but we have way more talent as team then they do.

They're literally missing their best player and a top 20 talent. We have no right to use excuses.