Everything Dwane Casey

[Axel]

better team yes, but that doesn't necessarily make them a worse matchup for us. i like the way we match up with their starters. especially with 2pat in the starting 5 now, if that holds.

I think they are a better matchup for DD but across the board they have better players than Indy. Pacers were Paul George and a couple of guys. Heat have multiple guys that can give us problems plus Whiteside can turn the rebounding against us and that would be very bad with how Lowry is shooting (even assuming DD shoots better).

[Miekenstien]

That's why I say that winning and losing is a terrible barometer for coaching.

I can't go back and pinpoint each of those milk the clock games but I can distinctly remember multiple games where it happened. That it failed wasn't the problem, it's that we keep doing it. Playoffs are just amplified examples of the same things we've seen in the season.

if we had a few better, i mean diverse not better, sets. running the clock is a good strategy. but running it to 10 and having one, dribble drive, go to is bad management. the dribble drive works at the start of clocks when the pg or demar has time to reset and re-attack. end of clock they have one chance. that gives a big advantage to the defense. then on top of that the defense has to expect we are going for deep penetration and it is even easier to make us settle.

[Miekenstien]

I think they are a better matchup for DD but across the board they have better players than Indy. Pacers were Paul George and a couple of guys. Heat have multiple guys that can give us problems plus Whiteside can turn the rebounding against us and that would be very bad with how Lowry is shooting (even assuming DD shoots better).

exactly, hell or highwater. good for dd is good for us.

[Axel]

exactly, hell or highwater. good for dd is good for us.

Lol well it might actually work in our favour for once.

Whiteside is the key I think. DD will need to look for JV on a lot of drives to keep Whiteside honest, opening up Demar's game. Demar needs to be patient there though; facilitate first then his scoring will be easier. If he continues to force it early, we may be starting 0-1 again.

[Apollo]

I don't know if I agree with that. Heat have more weapons than the Pacers. Whiteside is a big impact defensively and then they have Wade, Dragic, Old School Joe to score. If they have Bosh, then they are much better but even without they are a better team than Indy.

The Pacers had lots of weapons. George is better than anyone on the Heat. They also had guys like Hill, Ellis and Turner. They were more perimeter focused, the Heat are more interior focused. The Raptors have some strong guys patrolling the paint, it won't be easy but the Raptors didn't exactly win the last series by slashing and finishing at the hoop.

The interesting match up will be who's guarding Wade. We were lucky last round that Carroll got back to 100% and could match up well against George.

[Apollo]

exactly, hell or highwater. good for dd is good for us.

Sad but true. I want Casey to work some kind of magic to turn DD into an efficient, smart scorer but it probably isn't happening. So his shots need to fall.

It would also be nice for Kyle to drop a few because he won't find it as easy taking it to the bucket against Miami.

[Axel]

The Pacers had lots of weapons. George is better than anyone on the Heat. They also had guys like Hill, Ellis and Turner. They were more perimeter focused, the Heat are more interior focused. The Raptors have some strong guys patrolling the paint, it won't be easy but the Raptors didn't exactly win the last series by slashing and finishing at the hoop.

The interesting match up will be who's guarding Wade. We were lucky last round that Carroll got back to 100% and could match up well against George.

George is better yes, but Whiteside, Dragic are significantly better than Hill, Ellis, Turner.

[Barolt]

The Pacers had lots of weapons. George is better than anyone on the Heat. They also had guys like Hill, Ellis and Turner. They were more perimeter focused, the Heat are more interior focused. The Raptors have some strong guys patrolling the paint, it won't be easy but the Raptors didn't exactly win the last series by slashing and finishing at the hoop.

The interesting match up will be who's guarding Wade. We were lucky last round that Carroll got back to 100% and could match up well against George.

The Heat are shooting the 3ball as well as anyone in the playoffs. And the idea that Hill, Ellis and Turner come even close to matching the Heat's supporting cast is laughable. This is a much, much more talented team than the Pacers.

[Apollo]

George is better yes, but Whiteside, Dragic are significantly better than Hill, Ellis, Turner.

They have a clear identifiable weakness that the Raptors can exploit. Lock down the paint and make them flop around like fish out of water.

[Axel]

They have a clear identifiable weakness that the Raptors can exploit. Lock down the paint and make them flop around like fish out of water.

The Pacers had a clear weakness and we didn't exploit it after game 2.

Thankfully the Heat's weakness plays better to what we are likely to do.

[golden]

if we had a few better, i mean diverse not better, sets. running the clock is a good strategy. but running it to 10 and having one, dribble drive, go to is bad management. the dribble drive works at the start of clocks when the pg or demar has time to reset and re-attack. end of clock they have one chance. that gives a big advantage to the defense. then on top of that the defense has to expect we are going for deep penetration and it is even easier to make us settle.

This is a good point. There are other ways to milk the clock, even without "running" plays. You can run an endless set of dribble hands-offs, like Euro teams do. You can do repeated hi-lo post feeds, but really just "pretending" to run a play and only making safe passes.

It doesn't have to be so telegraphed and repeated over-and-over, so that it becomes obvious to everybody what you're doing. There needs to be a bit more trickery and mis-direction and variety. The worst thing about Game 7 is that those dribble-out sets didn't even kill clock - the turnovers came early in the clock and produced scores in transition, which also burned almost no clock for the opposition on offense. Basically, it was the worst possible outcome achieving the complete opposite of the intended strategy. Self-inflicted.

I was at the Raps-Miami game this season where this backfired in almost carbon copy fashion against the Heat and CoJo almost coughed up the win. Eerily similar game, actually. Casey better not try this in the same way against Spoelstra in this series.

[CalgaryRapsFan]

This is a good point. There are other ways to milk the clock, even without "running" plays. You can run an endless set dribble hands-offs, like Euro teams do. You can do repeated hi-lo post feed, but really just "pretending" to run a play and only making safe passes.

It doesn't have to be so telegraphed and repeated over-and-over, so that it becomes obvious to everybody what you're doing. There needs to be a bit more trickery and mis-direction and variety. The worst thing about Game 7 is that those dribble-out sets didn't even kill clock - the turnovers came early in the clock and produced scores in transition, which also burned almost no clock for the opposition on offense. Basically, it was the worst possible outcome achieving the complete opposite of the intended strategy.

I was at the Raps-Miami game this season where this backfired in almost carbon copy fashion against the Heat and CoJo almost coughed up the win. Eerily similar game, actually. Casey better not try this in the same way against Spoelstra in this series.

I screamed at my TV with about 6 minutes left, saying "just keep playing your game, it got you this lead". I hate when teams go into 'prevent' mode. It happens in lots of sports, whether football, basketball, or hockey (remember the Leafs in game 7 of the first round against Boston a couple years ago, when they went into a defensive mode and gave up 2 goals in the last couple minutes to lose the series, and the Bruins went on to win the cup?).

Milk the clock, but still run a play to get a decent shot. DeRozan, Lowry and Joseph dribbled around and got into trouble, causing turnovers (Joseph had his head down and spun right into JV at one point), shot clock violations, and so many forced ISO plays where a player had 4-6 seconds to try and break down his man (too often DeRozan at George, which is the dumbest matchup of all) starting out at the 3pt line.

If the Raptors kept playing their normal game, utilizing their standard offensive sets, avoiding early shots, and avoiding lazy turnovers, game 7 isn't even close down the stretch. Beyond just that game itself, keeping the foot on the gas is how a young team learns to win and develops a killer instinct. I'm worried that stumbling down the stretch like that is just going to instill bad habits and keep their core second-guessing their ability to close out games and win a series.

It was bad coaching, plain and simple, both in-game and for longer term player/team development. The fact that they barely hung on to win (another 0.2 seconds and that games goes to overtime, where all bets are off) is besides the point, as has been a common refrain all season long.

[Primer]

I find it interesting that the most common gripe against Casey is "Yeah but we lost to a worse team." Or "the offence was stagnant." But people can't actually pinpoint what Casey did in those scenarios. Just that we lost therefore Casey is a bad coach. Maybe just maybe, the players had something to do with it too.

Did you just not read any of the comments you're bitching about? We laid out pretty damn clearly exactly what Casey did wrong in those scenarios.

[S.R.]

A really, really good piece by Feschuk on Casey, his blood bressure + the Raptors' tendency to play tight in big moments, and the "us vs the haters" mentality: https://m.thestar.com/sports/raptors...t-feschuk.html

[Primer]

A really, really good piece by Feschuk on Casey, his blood bressure + the Raptors' tendency to play tight in big moments, and the "us vs the haters" mentality: https://m.thestar.com/sports/raptors...t-feschuk.html

Key takeaway from the article:

Casey’s staff needs to address the problems of scheme that continue to hold back the Raptors. They’re playing too much selfish basketball, compiling the second-lowest assists-per-game rate in the playoffs so far. At their worst in the first round, they also played dismally stagnant basketball, holding the ball a league-high 2.76 dribbles per touch according to data on NBA.com — this when Casey keeps preaching the value of less ponderous play.