Raptors spotted at Cleveland casino before Game 5 loss: report

The Toronto Raptors played awfully in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Wednesday night, getting crushed by LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers by 38 points to slide to the brink of playoff elimination.

Two prominent Raptors who endured particularly poor games – starting forward DeMarre Carroll and backup point guard Cory Joseph – reportedly were spotted in the early morning hours Wednesday walking through the Jack Casino in downtown Cleveland, a short distance from Quicken Loans Arena.

“I didn’t know that,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey told the Toronto Sun after the game when informed of his players’ prior whereabouts. “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 ... It was an 8:30 game. That’s the good thing, I guess.”

The players were unavailable for comment after the game, according to the Sun report, and neither Casey nor the organization indicated to the newspaper that Carroll and Joseph would be subjected to fines.

Still, longtime columnist Steve Simmons wrote in the Sun: “This may have had nothing to do with how or why the Raptors were decimated and embarrassed 116-78 again by the Cleveland Cavaliers in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference final. But it makes you wonder.

“Why? Why would DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph put their own reputations in question, possibly put their team in question, by being seen wandering around in the middle of the night?”

Before the casino excursion, the Raptors had held a team dinner on Tuesday night and then watched the Western Conference Finals game between Golden State and Oklahoma City as a group.

Carroll scored just five points (2-for-7) in 26 minutes in Wednesday’s blowout loss, while Joseph played only 10:14, scoring three points (1-for-5) with no assists and three turnovers.

“But that’s not why we lost,” Casey said. “They kicked our butts. That’s the bottom line. We didn’t meet that standard tonight for whatever reason. It’s embarrassing tonight. But it’s one game. We need the same focus and physicality to meet what Cleveland is doing. We won two, they won three.

“Against Cleveland, we’ve got to come out with a different sense of urgency. We knew they were going to come out like a freight train and they did.... But it’s one game.”

These Folks dont unnastan adrenalin pumping

and man cant sleep !

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who cares..is chirren we dealin' wit'.