The priorities of DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph are under question.
Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun reported that both Carroll and Joseph were spotted at a large casino in Cleveland around 2 AM the morning before Game 5.
It would be short-sighted to blame this for the Toronto Raptors‘ horrible performance yesterday against the Cavs in what was the biggest game of their franchise's history, but Simmons raises a fair question: Why would they do this?
There's plenty of time when the season's over to go out and enjoy yourself. Even in the regular season, it's not a big deal from time to time.
Going to a casino at 2 AM (and possibly later) before a Eastern Conference Finals game? It's different. It raises eyebrows.
To put it into perspective though, head coach Dwane Casey didn't seem to care too much. From Simmons:
“I didn’t know that,” said Casey, when told his starting small forward and backup point guard were spotted at the Jack Casino, a short walk from the Quicken Loans Arena early Wednesday morning. “This has nothing to do with curfew.
“This isn’t why we lost … This is the NBA, they’re grown men. These are grown men. These things happen.”
Neither Casey nor the team indicated whether there would be any kind of fine for Carroll and Joseph being outed.
“It was an 8:30 game. That’s the good thing I guess,” said Casey.
Everybody will need to be zoned in if the Raptors hope to push this series to seven games, not just Carroll and Joseph. They'll be in their comfort zone back at the Air Canada Centre for Game 6 on Friday night.
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