Did Pop tell Dwane Casey he thinks Toronto will make the Finals?
Despite resting their All-Star backcourt of Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, the Toronto Raptors gave the San Antonio Spurs a run for their money this past Saturday. Led by veteran reserves Cory Joseph and Patrick Patterson, as well as rookies Norman Powell and Delon Wright, the Raptors got within four points in the final three minutes of regulation before Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard closed the door, leading the Spurs to a 102-95 victory. The win was San Antonio’s 64th of the season, setting a new franchise record, as well as their NBA-best 48th consecutive victory at AT&T Center, bringing them within just two Ws of becoming the first team in NBA history to go a perfect 41-0 at home during one regular season.
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After the final buzzer, though, Gregg Popovich seemed less interested in tooting his own team’s horn than in making sure head coach Dwane Casey knew just how much he thinks of his Raptors:
Maybe we’re seeing things, but to the amateur lip readers among us, it sure seems like during their postgame handshake, Pop leaned over to Casey and said, “I think you’re gonna get to the Finals. I swear to God. No bulls***.”
Popovich didn’t espouse quite that level of enthusiasm for Toronto in his chat with reporters, but despite San Antonio leading from buzzer to buzzer, he was awfully complimentary of the effort Casey’s club put forth on the second night of a back-to-back on teh road without their top two offensive initiators. From David Flores of KENS5.com:
“I thought they were fantastic,” Popovich said. “They were aggressive. I thought they executed really well. Drove the ball really well. We didn’t stay in front of them very well. There is a reason why they are doing what they are doing in the East.”
What they’re doing, for those who haven’t kept up, is winning more than any team in Raptors history behind a balanced attack that features the NBA’s fifth-most efficient offense and its 11th-ranked defense in points allowed per possession — a marked improvement over last year’s model, which finished 23rd among 30 NBA teams in defensive efficiency and proved utterly unable to slow down the Washington Wizards en route to a four-game sweep in the first round of the 2015 playoffs.
Casey and general manager Masai Ujiri believe this year can be different, thanks to the continued improvement and all-around evolution of stars Lowry and DeRozan to lead a deep roster featuring a variety of versatile role players. Time and again, Toronto has depended on contributions from steady ball-handling ex-Spur Joseph, rim-protecting/glass-eating monster Bismack Biyombo, the power forward combo of Patrick Patterson and Luis Scola, and talented wings Terrence Ross and Powell, who has opened eyes of late.
The second-round pick out of UCLA, whom the Raptors picked up in the trade that sent Greivis Vasquez to the Milwaukee Bucks, has slid into the starting lineup over the last month and provided an injection of defensive aggressiveness, open-court athleticism and shooting, averaging 9.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.2 combined blocks/steals in 24.4 minutes per game over the last 14 games, while shooting 44.7 percent from 3-point land. The Raps are outscoring opponents by 4.7 points per 100 possessions with Powell on the floor since his elevation into the starting lineup, and have found success (albeit in a comparatively small sample of minutes) with him playing as an undersized but dogged small forward between the Lowry-DeRozan backcourt and front lines featuring some combination of Biyombo, Jonas Valanciunas and midseason acquisition Jason Thompson.
The Raptors still want and need prized free-agent signing DeMarre Carroll back from knee surgery to bolster their hopes of making a deep playoff run — and it looks like they might get their wish for Toronto’s final two or three games — but thanks to fine development work, shrewed roster management by Ujiri and sideline work by Casey that will likely draw at least a few Coach of the Year votes, Toronto’s a tough out most nights no matter who’s taking the court. Whether the whole mix will wind up being enough to topple the defending conference champion and No. 1-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers come the postseason remains to be seen — the health of Lowry’s balky right elbow could play a large role in determining that — but it sure seems like the whole package impressed Pop enough that he wouldn’t be surprised to see the North hosting playoff games come June. We suspect he plans to see Casey and company then.
Hat-tip to r/NBA.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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