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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS v CAVALIERS

May 25, 2016

Dwane Casey

Cleveland, Ohio: Game Five

Pregame Interview

Q. Obviously a lot of people didn't expect you guys to pull off what you guys did in Toronto. But coming back here, how can you keep sustaining that effort on the road?
DWANE CASEY: Well, that's the part of this -- any seven-game series that you're trying to strive for, the first team that wins on the other team's floor, now it's the series. You take that philosophy, you come in trying to get one on their floor, just as they did in Toronto. That's our focus. Guys are confident. We enjoy when people count us out. I think that fuels us.

We're a program that is trying to get where Cleveland has been. They were in The Finals last year. Our program is growing, trying to develop to that level and be consistent year after year.

Q. Is there more of a role for [Jonas] Valanciunas tonight?
DWANE CASEY: We'll see. Again, it's very difficult after a young man has been out for two weeks or however long he's been out, to come in and be in a role with the speed of the game, the intensity of the game. The type of game that Bismack [Biyombo] has had the second, third and fourth game, it's very difficult to supplant him. Now you bring Jonas in and has to guard their second unit, which is a spread unit -- very difficult. But we hope to get him in and find him some minutes and get his feet wet where he can get back in game condition.

Q. A lot was made early in the playoffs about some of the early series and going seven games against Indiana, going seven games against Miami. How much do you think that helped you in Games 3 and 4, and do you think there's something that you can draw back on going into tonight's game?
DWANE CASEY: Well, one thing is for sure: We're used to going game, day off, game, day off. Our rhythm has been there because we've done it for almost a month now. That has helped. And again, playing those pressure games, Game 7s, helped. Our guys are used to it now. Their body is in a rhythm of going with the schedule the way it is. I think that's just as difficult as anything else is the schedule. There's no two days, there's no three days between games that allows you to recover and your body to get recovered a little bit.

But fortunately our guys have sustained the effort and the intensity that they've had through these three series.

Q. [DeMar] DeRozan is shooting over 50 percent for the series. Do you expect anything different defensively from the Cavs tonight to try and shut him down?
DWANE CASEY: Well, I would assume. There are a lot of things we assume, and we talk about it in our video sessions, shootaround this morning. You plan for the unexpected. He's had his rhythm since the start of the series. We predicted that [LeBron] James would guard him some more, predicted double teams. We're prepared whatever they throw at us. It won't be anything he hasn't seen before.

Q. Coach, you mentioned the game condition that JV has got to get himself back into. What does it take? Is it the number of minutes? Is it getting used to getting bumped in the block? What is it?
DWANE CASEY: There's no magic number. There's no amount of minutes that he can play. It's just getting him out there and finding the situation where he fits in. And the best match for him is Tristan Thompson. Does he supplant Bismack in that situation, where Bismack has had two monster games and has kind of got a rhythm against those guys? It may come to that. But we just felt like in the last game when he was available, we went ahead and played Bismack, and then the opportunity didn't present itself to get him in there. I mean, we will. He's our starting center. But again, Bismack, we've got to respect what he's doing also on the court. Jonas understands that, and we've talked about it. But he is ready and available to go.

Q. Are there any limitations conditioning-wise, anything like that?
DWANE CASEY: No, not that I know of. Well, conditioning, I'm sure it's going to be a shock to his lungs once he gets out there and starts running up and down a little bit. But there are no limitations with his ankle or anything like that. There's a huge difference between the conditioning he's been doing and the Conference Finals.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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