	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 27, 2016

Dwane Casey

Toronto, Ontario: Game Six

Cleveland 113, Toronto 87

DWANE CASEY: First of all, I want to say congratulations to the Cleveland Cavaliers, a class organization, big-time team, presents a lot of problems. My hat is off to them for a well-played series, a tough series, and whoever has them next has their hands full.

Q. Coach, you've talked about the learning curve throughout the series. The Cavs have been here, your team hadn't. How much does this experience help you guys in your building process?
DWANE CASEY: It's a tremendous learning experience. I was trying to sprinkle that in the entire series. Every situation was new for us. I loved the way we responded after the first two games. I thought we realized where we were and what we were into. This team understood the moment. They understood the second quarter tonight. I thought that was the difference right before halftime. They understood when to push the pedal to the metal and when to let up and pick their spots. That's what you have to do because everybody is playing hard. Everybody is trying. We know what they're going to do. They know what we're going to do. That's when the intellect and control comes into play. That team understands how to do it, and they have one of the best in the world in LeBron James at the throttle.

Q. You only had 10 assists. You got a pretty good performance out of DeRozan and Lowry. Did you feel you needed to get more from your other players?
DWANE CASEY: Well, we do, we do. They had a guy, James had 33, Kevin Love had 20 and Irving had 30. We've got to have that third person to step up. I thought we had some good looks and we tried to get guys in the right situation. Again, it's a learning experience for our guys. It's the first time they've been here. That group had been there before. They were there last year, and they'll have the opportunity again this year.

We're learning. We're not where they are right now. We're going to be. This summer is a big summer of working for our players in specific areas. That's going to help. But this experience, and I've said it all year, this year was a great learning experience for all of us.

Q. In all your years of coaching in the postseason, have you ever had a tougher offense to game plan against, and did you feel helpless at times?
DWANE CASEY: I don't know if it's the offense. It wasn't the sets; it was the individuals, because a lot of their stuff one-on-one, they're impossible to guard. Then you double-team, and then you open up yourself where they have such great three-point shooters and a great willing passer in LeBron. They present a lot of problems. Just a lot of it is their personnel and the placement of their personnel. Channing Frye adds another question to the mix because now instead of inside in the post, he's stretched out in transition. We have our big guys, and Jonas tried and Bismack tried, but they're so used to going down and taking that first rim runner, and now you look out and there's Channing Frye at the three-point line, that's a problem. It's a learning experience for us. We'll learn from it and we'll be better from it.

Q. How do you kind of put into perspective the last 20 games going through all the injuries you had, Kyle and DeMar's ups and downs shooting the ball?
DWANE CASEY: I'm so proud of our guys. To go through what they've been through, two Game 7 series and a Game 6 series and a day off in between, they fought through it. No excuses, but I did think mental fatigue set in a little bit, which is not any excuse at this time of year. But we put ourselves in the position of two hard-fought seven-game series, which I know we learned from. When we talk to guys next year about what it's like, about a situation, they can refer back to how hard it was in the Indiana series, in the Miami series, in this series, about the situation they put themselves in and the type of focus and attention to detail you've got to have in certain situations. Again, it's not about playing hard; it's about attention to detail and making sure you understand exactly what your job is in that instance.

Q. How much of this series was the difference between having LeBron James and not having LeBron James?
DWANE CASEY: That's a loaded question. That's a very unfair question, just because there's only one LeBron James, and he makes a difference on any team he plays on, and he's proven that. What is this, his sixth Finals? Comparing him to our team -- I love our players. I wouldn't trade any of our players, but you put him on any team in this league and he's going to be a difference maker. Everybody in that organization, their level has gone up because he's on their team.

Q. In your five years here, you've talked a lot about the process of getting to a championship level and how you might not still be there. Did you get further than you even thought you might? Are you closer than you thought you were?
DWANE CASEY: That's a good point. I really think we're a step ahead in the process. The players worked and put themselves in this process. We're still a relatively young team to talk about competing for a championship, but they put themselves in that position by hard work and fighting through things this season. We still have a ways to go, and I've said this the whole time, guys that have been here have heard me say it, that next step is probably the biggest step we have to take as an organization and as individuals, myself included, the coaching staff, each player. We just talked in there a while ago about what each guy has to do, what they have to bring back to the table for us to take the next step, that next step, and it's not going to be easy.

Now the target is on your back. It's going to be even more so when people talk about the Toronto Raptors. We're one of four teams left. We should be proud of that but not satisfied.

Q. It seems like at the end of the game, Kyle was trying to hold back his tears. Any tears in the locker room, whether it's proud or frustration, sadness, anything?
DWANE CASEY: I don't know about tears. There were emotions, but again, you want that because it means they care.

Q. I know the season just ended, but do you have a sense of what the team needs, the one or two things --
DWANE CASEY: No, I'm not -- it's too soon to talk about that. All we talked about were what guys needed to do to get better, to come back next year. It's a business, and there are a lot of decisions the organization has to make. I have total trust in Masai that he's going to make the right decisions and put the right guys in place. Some guys have decisions to make themselves, which they put themselves in that position and earned that right to do that. I know Masai and Jeff and the front office, Bobby, will do a great job of making the right decisions to help us make that next step.

Q. You had two rookies that got a chance to play through a 20-game stretch of playoffs. We saw a lot of Norman Powell and even a bit of Delon Wright through the Conference Finals. What's it mean for them to get through --
DWANE CASEY: Huge. And the thing about Norman, and I told him at the end, everybody in that room had their day in the sun throughout the playoffs at some point. Now, we didn't sustain it, some guys didn't sustain it, some guys did, the young guys, but the future is bright for those young guys. I still say the 905 had a lot to do with those guys getting the reps, getting minutes, staying in condition, in game condition, because if you just come up here and have to go through the practices, especially toward the end of the season when there wasn't a lot of practice time, it wouldn't have been a lot. So I'm proud of the young guys. They still have work to do. There are areas where they can get better, so that's something that our organization can look forward to and be proud of.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297