Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey yells from the sidelines during the first half of a Dec. 26, 2017 game.The Associated Press
Before Friday night's game, Dwane Casey was just one win away from being selected for his first head-coaching gig at an NBA all-star game.
And with the Utah Jazz inflicting a 97-93 victory over a sluggish Toronto Raptors outfit at the Air Canada Centre, the 60-year-old Casey will have to wait another day for his invitation to the league's mid-season extravaganza.
That could come as early as Sunday, when the Raptors square off against the Los Angeles Lakers at the ACC. With a win, Casey will become the first coach in the 23-year history of the Canadian franchise to lead a side in the all-star game.
Friday night was a ragged game in which neither team played with any real zest. The Jazz had a 75-69 lead through three quarters.
Trailing 93-92, the Jazz earned the win when Ricky Rubio canned a three-point shot with 4.8 seconds left that moved them in front by one.
A baseline miss by DeMar DeRozan with about one second left sealed the fate of the Raptors, who lost for just the fourth time on home court this season.
Jonas Valanciunas carded a season-high 28 points in the Toronto setback while rookie Donovan Mitchell led Utah with 26 points.
Heading into Friday's game Casey, in typical understated fashion, played down what such an accomplishment would mean to him, saying that coaching in an all-star game is not something he aspires to when setting goals each season.
Casey noted he has been to the event a couple of times before – as an assistant in 1996 and 1998 when he was with the Seattle SuperSonics and head coach George Karl got the nod to hold the clipboard for the Western Conference.
"It's great, it's a tribute to the coaches and our staff, our organization," Casey said. "But again, it's not something I sit around and dream about and worry about.
"I'd much rather be on the beach somewhere and relaxing a little bit."
This year's all-star game is to be staged Feb. 18 at the Staples Center.
The honour to coach in an NBA all-star game is usually reserved for the head coach of the team with the best record in each of the Eastern and Western conferences unless one of those coaches appeared in the game the year before.
In that case, the selection falls to the coach of the team with the second-best record.
That's the reason Casey will most likely be L.A.-bound.
While the Raptors have played well this season, they remained in second place overall in the East heading into Friday's play, trailing the Boston Celtics by 1 1/2 games. But they held a four-game bulge over the third-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers.
Since Boston's Brad Stevens coached in the all-star game last season, he is not eligible to make a return appearance. So only one Toronto win stands between Casey and his ticket to L.A.
Casey said the best thing about the possibility of his being able to participate in the all-star weekend would be to try gain a little more respect for the NBA's only Canadian franchise.
Earlier this season, Toronto president Masai Ujiri was bemoaning the fact that the Raptors are rarely featured on U.S. national television broadcasts despite being one of the best teams in the league over the past five years.
And although Toronto stars DeRozan and Kyle Lowry have been selected to play in the all-star game this year, the Raptors feel slighted that none of their younger talent was picked for Rising Stars contest.
That game, part of the all-star weekend, pits first- and second-year NBA players from the United States against first– and second-year players from around the world.
The Raptors feel that at least one of Jakob Poeltl, Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby and Pascal Siakam deserved inclusion in that game, whose representation is voted on by the NBA's assistant coaches.
"I'm shocked," Casey said. "I'm totally shocked and upset about that. It blows my mind that our young guys weren't selected for anything – the Rising Stars, the international game."
"That's kind of baffling to me," Lowry added. "I believe we have four guys that could possibly make it and I think all four should have made it.
"Maybe I'm biased but those guys have been a key contributing factor to our team."
In an effort to spice up an all-star game, which has become a dreary all-offence showcase that bears little resemblance to NBA games – the West won 192-182 in New Orleans last year – the format has been revamped.
No longer will the game feature a matchup between the two conferences.
Instead, the two players in each conference who received the most support in fan voting – LeBron James from the East and Stephen Curry from the West – conducted a draft from among the other voted-in players to build the rosters of the two teams.
"It's going to be interesting," Lowry said. "I'm excited for it. I'm just excited to be an all-star, it's an honour for me to just be out there. The format's going to be fine.
"The last couple years I've been on the bad side of the game so hopefully this year I'll be on the good side of the game."
Lowry and DeRozan were both drafted by Curry for the West, which sets up a showdown against Casey, who would coach James's team in the East if and when his all-star coronation is affirmed.
"I'm going to talk trash to him for sure," DeRozan warned, a threat that Casey would not take sitting down.
"We're going to go at DeMar if that's the case," Casey retorted.