Casey warns Raptors: No one can be taken lightly

 

Oh, this one is fraught with peril for sure.

A Raptors team that has a tendency to play to the level of its opposition far too often – good against good teams, bad against bad teams – gets one with the worst record in the NBA on Friday night and don’t for a second think coach Dwane Casey isn’t worried about the mental stability of his club.

And don’t for a second think he hasn’t mentioned it to them as they prepare to face the 3-26 Charlotte Bobcats at the Air Canada Centre.

It was a big topic for Casey’s media session after shootaround Friday morning, it was a big topic in is shootaround chat with the players.

“I know it’s human nature but I challenged our guys this morning: I don’t care what the record is, who we’re playing, we have to come out the same way,” he said.

“We told our guys, we did a good job of starting the game out the right way (against San Antonio on Wednesday and the Knicks on Tuesday), with a good disposition and now we have do it tonight.”

If you’re looking for news as opposed to purely set up stuff, there isn’t a whole lot.

Jerryd Bayless went through shootaround and they’ll see if his wonky ankle acts up before deciding Friday evening whether or not he’ll play; Linas Kleiza’s sore left knee will keep him out another night; Andrea Bargnani is a no-go.

But it doesn’t matter – or shouldn’t matter – whether Bayless goes or not and whether those other two guys are out.

The Raptors need to be mentally tough enough to take a struggling opponent – the Bobcats have lost 16 in a row – and put them away early and easily.

Charlotte does have some talent – Kemba Walker’s a solid if unproven point guard, D.J. Augustine can score, Boris Diaw may not be the most svelte guy on Earth but he can play and Corey Maggette can get you points in a hurry.

It’s odd that they’ve won just three times given the weird schedule this season – you’d think they’d be able steal one here or there – but they haven’t.

“What their issues are, I don’t know and I really don’t care,” said Casey. “We have our own issues.”

 

 

 

 

Comments

[Lazaros]

"The Pistons are doing a horrible job of setting up that lottery pick for the June NBA draft."

Would you ever open a gamer or blog entry with a similar statement as the one above from the story about Detroit's victory over Boston by Vince Ellis of the Detroit Free Press? Given the above, is it so beyond the pale for fans to talk about tanking?

Blogger's note: Only in a last-gasp attempt to get something written quickly on deadline; and even then I'd be ticked at myself

[LeeZ]

I've heard that it's LK's left ankle, and now you're indicating it's his knee. Which is it? Personally, I think you're right, because on the play in question, it looked as though he hyperextended the knee.

Blogger's note: Team information we have from this morning says knee; that's what I'm going with

[sam]

You never know how the HOTH will come out of the gate -
We've seen them lose winable games against Washington and the Nets where it seemed there was no flow or energy to thier game.
That's why they play the game, I suppose.
It's pretty hard to have consistent scoring when Andrea, Bayless, and Klieza are injured - DD and Jose can only do so much -

[Peter]

I (heart) GruntTV

[Boko]

We've been playing with intensity lately, and barely losing. The last thing we need is to come out without any intensity and lose to a 3-wins team. I don't care who's injured. It's about playing the best you can every second you're on the court. We won't arrive as a team to be proud of until it becomes our identity.