	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS v CAVALIERS

May 21, 2016

Dwane Casey

Toronto, Ontario: Game Three

Cleveland - 84, Toronto - 99

Q. Dwane, can you put into context what Bis [Biyombo] meant for you tonight?
DWANE CASEY: Oh, he was huge. I thought he played a big-time game in the paint. Again, he's done it all year, and he's just kind of the spirit of our team. He did a good job on the pick-and-rolls of being up and making sure he took care of his coverage.

Q. I know his scoring won't be the thing that is most mentioned with Biyombo, but at the beginning of the year they would throw a lot of the passes to Biyombo and he was dropping them a lot. A few of those plays midway through the fourth quarter when you guys were struggling, they didn't hesitate to throw Bis those passes and he made plays. What has that process been like for your team getting comfortable with Bis on the offensive end?
DWANE CASEY: Well, one thing is he's getting fouled so much. He's not getting the calls. We shoot zero free throws in the fourth quarter, zero. I mean, it is 73-46 in the entire three games. He's getting hit. There's one play where they almost have a brawl. He gets killed on that play. And again, I've got to go back and watch it, but there's got to be some consistency. I said it before the game, we have the greatest officials in the league. But how you can miss fouls like that and calls like that, I can't see it. I've been in this league a long time, in college basketball a long time, but again, there's got to be consistency. The same foul on one end has got to be the same foul on the other. I don't know if he's getting hit because of how physical and tough he is, but he's getting cracked. To his credit, I thought he was going to lose his head when he got the technical foul, but he kept playing.

Q. After the first two games when they beat you by about 50 combined and they're running and laughing, how much does the toughness of Bis and this entire team show in a game like this?
DWANE CASEY: Well, again, I don't know about all the laughing. They're a very good team. They're playing championship-caliber basketball. But I just know that our guys are resilient. They're playing through a lot, playing through a lot of physicality, getting hit and fouled. We shot zero free throws in the fourth quarter, zero. That's frustrating, but our guys played through it, so that shows a sense of toughness, a sense of togetherness. People have written us off all year, but we've played through it. We've got to continue to do it. It's not over yet. It's a long series. It says a lot about our guys' character and resiliency.

Q. After the way you guys got carved up in the paint in Game 1, what kind of a commitment was there going into this game --
DWANE CASEY: Well, they got 20 points in the paint, 20 tonight, they got 20 versus 50 -- we saw that. We understand that. We knew what was going on. We kept them to 20 tonight, which is what we needed to do in those first two games. We didn't get it done. Tonight we did a better job.

Q. For a guy to get 26 rebounds and four blocked shots in a game like this with your season on the line, what can you say about that kind of effort?
DWANE CASEY: I thought it was a huge effort. I think he had 20 earlier against Indiana early in the season. But again, that's what he does. He's one of the top rebounders in the league, and no telling how many times he gets hit and fouled under there without being called.

Again, I'm going to say this: I think he gets hit almost on every rebound and put-back there is, and he just doesn't get the calls, whether he's rolling to the bucket, and we've just got to have consistency with that.

Q. Coach, you had good offensive first quarters in the first two games. This time you fouled it up with a strong second quarter offensively. What was the difference tonight, especially in that second quarter?
DWANE CASEY: I thought we played with force. I thought we played with force on the offensive end, with confidence. They're a good defensive team. They do a lot of switching. I thought our spacing was much better. From that standpoint, I thought we matched -- we kind of did a good job of mixing up half-court play versus transition, trying to catch them before they got set. I thought that was also a plus for us.

Q. Kevin [Love] and Kyrie [Irving] shot 4 of 28 combined, and Kyrie particularly, you seemed to be very physical with him and have one or two bodies on him most of the night. Did you change anything from Game 2 to Game 3?
DWANE CASEY: No, we just did a better job. I thought we did a better job of being up, being into the ball, being into him, making him feel us. He's a tough guy to play against because every time he pushes off, that off arm is coming off, so that's hard to play against. So I thought Cory [Joseph] did a much better job of holding his position, holding his ground, and not getting knocked off kilter with that.

Q. How big was Cory's game management overall considering the early foul trouble for Kyle [Lowry]?
DWANE CASEY: He did a much better job. He did a much better job tonight of controlling the game, running the offense, keeping things under control, not letting the defense speed him up. I thought he did an excellent job with that tonight. And again, Kyle's first charge, I've got to look at that again, too, because I thought the first foul -- they called a block, and I thought it was clearly a charge.

Again, the consistency of the game calls. I've been on both sides of it. I've been where the whistle has been in favor of you, but for whatever reason, and again, I understand we have great officials, it's a hard game to call, but some of those fouls are unbelievable.

Q. You kind of alluded to the game management of Cory and Kyle. I'm curious, you guys had only a few turnovers but generally you controlled the ball. I was wondering how important those two were in getting you into the offense and making sure you got good shots.
DWANE CASEY: They did. I thought once Kyle got in foul trouble Cory did a good job of handling the pressure, handling their defensive pressure, switching and making sure he had the right person involved in the pick-and-roll. Most of all, I thought he did a good job with his defensive presence in the pick-and-roll situations. He did a much better job tonight from that standpoint.

Q. With [Jonas] Valanciunas being out, being hurt, what sort of things have you and your staff said to Biyombo in terms of what he needs to do, what you're looking for from him? How much talking or coaching have you done with him?
DWANE CASEY: Just giddy up. You don't have to say anything. You don't have to say that to Bis. Bis is a self-starter. He understands what he does. He's a kid that just plays hard. He knows who he is. He knows what he can do. He knows his role on the team. He understands his role, and he accepts it, and he understands he has limitations. So you don't have to say anything to a guy like Bismack. He's been that way all year. This is not his first 20-plus rebounding game. That's what he does.

Again, he plays through a lot down there. To get rebounds, almost like he reminds me of a guy like [Dennis] Rodman going for the rebounds. He knows where the ball is coming off, he has a sense of where it's coming off, and he does a good job doing that.

Q. (No microphone).
DWANE CASEY: Not necessarily. Rodman wasn't a physical player. He's an active player. He's a guy that's always moving, moving his feet, getting into position for an offensive rebound. He understands angles. He understands where the ball is coming off, and I think that's his gift to the game.

Q. This morning DeMar [DeRozan] told us he was approaching tonight like he approached the previous two Game 7s. What are you seeing that he does in those instances, and how can he apply that to games when you're not with your back up against the wall?
DWANE CASEY: Well, again, it's about coming out with the same approach. We've been a resilient team after a loss, and we've always bounced back. I don't know if we have to get hit upside the head before we play, but again, we have to treat every game like it's Game 7 almost and have people write us off. And again, it's a long series. It's not over with yet, but everybody thought we were going to get swept. I think that fuels us, and if that's what it takes, so be it. We've got to continue to read those things about us.

Q. I know you don't want to see technicals in the game, but Cory's skirmish with Thompson --
DWANE CASEY: Well, the thing about it, [Tristan] Thompson was the one who hit LeBron, and then we were going to get about three or four technicals in that one play. So as long as it's physical play, not a hard foul -- I mean, not a flagrant, trying to hurt somebody -- the game is going to be physical. They were playing physical, and we're playing physical. Again, just be consistent with the calls. Just be consistent both ways is all we ask for. That's all you can ask for is be consistent on the calls. The same call on one end has got to be the same call on the other end.

Q. Dwyane, it seems like Bis has adapted Dikembe Mutombo's finger wagging from years ago. You shook your head. When you see that, what do you think of that from him?
DWANE CASEY: As long as he backs it up. As long as he continues to do it and backs it up with 26 rebounds, he can wag it. As long as he doesn't get a technical and hurt his team, he can do it all he wants to. Again, he's a spirited guy. He's an emotional player. His energy is off the charts. Again, as long as he backs it up, so be it. As long as he doesn't get a technical with it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297