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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS v CAVALIERS

May 17, 2016

Dwane Casey

Cleveland, Ohio: Game One

Cleveland - 115, Toronto - 84.

Q. This game got away from you early in the second. That used to be a time of strength for you guys. Late first, early second were your best minutes generally. What's happened to the bench where that time of the game has gone from such a strength to a trouble spot?
DWANE CASEY: Well, one, our rotation is off a little bit with Patrick. He was a big part of that second unit coming in. Now with him starting has changed it a little bit. But again, we've been out of rhythm for a little while now. Tonight is not the first night. I thought our turnovers in that stretch really hurt us, but that was a key part of the game. We played them as close as you could there in the first quarter.

But again, we've got to find that rhythm with that second unit, and we've got to get some productivity from those guys, you know, starting with the second quarter.

Q. After Game 6 in Miami you talked about it was a challenge to each guy to keep their man in front of him. After this game you tried to run them off the three-point line, but is that kind of the challenge with this Cleveland team right now?
DWANE CASEY: Well, that is the main challenge. They were shooting threes at the high level. There's some things we've got to do better that we'll hopefully correct tomorrow. Once you do run them off, again, the rotations, the discipline you've got to have as far as your role man is concerned. I think, what, they had seven threes tonight, so we've got to continue to keep those down, work to keep those down, and also at the same time make sure we understand and be disciplined as far as how we take away their role guy, because I thought that hurt us, especially in the second quarter.

Q. A lot of people talk about how demoralizing three-point shots are for a defense. How demoralizing are those straight line drives?
DWANE CASEY: Very. Very demoralizing. Again, you want to take away one thing but you don't want to open up a whole can of worms to give them layups, and that's what we've got to be disciplined with and understand where the help is coming from, the angles of your close-outs, the angles of your foot position, your stance on the basketball.

Again, like I said, you take away the three, but if you're not careful, you're giving up layups, and that's where we got to get that balance, and I think that's the key for this whole series. Different series than last series. We've got to get our minds adjusted and bodies adjusted. The speed of the game is another issue, a quicker pace, a quicker foot speed for this team versus Miami and Indiana, so we've got to make that adjustment.

Q. What do you think caused so many straight line drives for them?
DWANE CASEY: Well, like I said, the foot position, the angles of your close-outs. You open up too much, you do give straight line drives, and from what I saw, I've got to watch the film again to make sure, but that's my assessment. That was our assessment in the second quarter at halftime.

Q. Can you talk about why you put Scola on the court?
DWANE CASEY: You know, because he's one of our -- he's a member of our team. I mean, we were kind of putting guys in to rest people. Patrick was running up his minutes, and it seemed like we were running in mud a little bit, so to give him an opportunity to play. We were searching by that time.

Q. With Kyle and DeMar not getting any free throw attempts, is that a lack of aggressiveness on their part or a credit to Cleveland's defense?
DWANE CASEY: It's a lot of things. I mean, it's amazing they shot, what, 20 free throws in the first half, we shot two. We go from getting to the line a lot against Miami. I've got to watch the film and make sure to see what the reasons were to have that kind of discrepancy, is it something we're not doing right or not adjusting to how the game is being called, and us not being aggressive or they're doing a heck of a job defending without fouling. So I've got to watch and see where the call is.

But we've got to make sure we force the issue, force the contact, if we're not, and make sure we get to the free-throw line. Two free throws in a half versus 20, whatever it was, 22, is a big discrepancy.

Q. Kyle was so effective in the three regular-season games against the Cavs. What did they do differently against him? Was it more than him just missing shots?
DWANE CASEY: I think some of it they did a good job of really stunning, sending another half a man to him on that. He missed some good looks. There's no excuse for it, but again, you've got to credit their defense for some of it. I thought they were the fresher team, the quicker team tonight. Again, that's to their credit, and again, it's one game. This series is not over by any means. We have another game in another night.

Again, the score is embarrassing, but again, it's just one game.

Q. 45-23 rebound deficit for your guys. I don't know that you can overcome that. If you can't, how do you reduce that deficit?
DWANE CASEY: Well, again, we've got to put a body on them. That's one thing we've got to do a better job of rebounding. When you are in rotation when the blow-bys are happening, the help is coming, you're getting your body off their rebounders. That was one of the emphasis going in, getting a body on Tristan Thompson, getting a body on Kevin Love, and again, when they were missing the three-point shots, the guards got to come back in and rebound.

Again, watch the film; we'll look at that. That was a problem, also, for us tonight.

Q. What do you say about the version of Kyrie Irving that you guys saw tonight versus the one who was still recovering from a knee injury that you saw in the regular season?
DWANE CASEY: I thought he played at a high level when we got him the first night he was back, and I thought he was as fresh that night as he was tonight. Again, there's some things we have to do better to keep him in front of us, to keep pressure on him.

You know, you expect him to score. They're going to make some tough baskets. That's what they've been doing the entire year. But he was playing at a different level tonight, a different speed. Their whole team was. Our hat has to go off to them. They were a fresh team, and they've earned that by sweeping their series, and we had to go seven.

But again, it's one game, but again, he's at a different clip as he's been for a while.

Q. This morning's shootaround you said you'd take rest over rust any time, and you mentioned "fresh" twice here in the press conference. How much of a factor do you think that was, especially when LeBron and Kyrie go 22 of 30?
DWANE CASEY: Again, it's not an excuse. It's what the league is. It's what the playoffs are about. Again, they've had a lot of days off. They're fresh. Tip your hat to them for one game.

Again, I thought they were quicker than us tonight, and the reasons are not important. It's not an excuse. Again, it's one game. But they were the quicker team tonight, and you know, we've got to make adjustments of how we want to combat that quickness, combat the rebounding, combat the turnovers that led to a lot of easy buckets in the second quarter, and we'll do that.

Q. I just want to go back to Dave's question about Kyrie and then the point earlier, isn't this the conundrum when you face the Cavs, at least in the playoffs? You've got two guys who can get to the rack in LeBron and Kyrie and you've got to figure out how to stop them and run their shooters off the three-point line? Is there an answer to do that?
DWANE CASEY: That's a pretty -- you just said a mouthful right there, and again, that's the challenge you have is to contain the ball first. First of all, take care of the basketball. That's one thing we didn't do in the second quarter. We led off the second quarter I think with two straight turnovers that kind of got them going. We didn't do a great job of containing the ball. Our foot positions of containing the ball was bad. Again, we've got to change our mindset of what we were doing in the last series and not let human nature take over.

But they're a problem. But again, there's things we can do better to combat some of that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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