The regular season is irrelevant.That's the message the Toronto Raptors sent Friday when they fired Dwane Casey, two days after his now-former peers in the NBA said he did the best coaching job in the league this season. Casey led the Raptors to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference this season, along with the second-best record in the league. He even got to coach in the All-Star game.Didn't matter.Swept in the playoffs, swept out of Toronto.The Raptors were good this season. They weren't great. And they can't beat LeBron James, who has engineered the ouster of Toronto now in each of the last three seasons, the last two of them being sweeps. So Casey paid the price, and with that comes the reminder: Winning isn't enough in this NBA. Coaches must meet expectations, regardless of how misguided they may be."In some ways I think the time has come," Raptors President Masai Ujiri said Friday, a few hours after telling Casey that he was done in Toronto. "Sometimes these things come to an end,... [More]

WALTHAM, Mass. (AP) — When Brad Stevens accepted the Celtics head coaching job five years ago, he didn't allow himself to get caught up in thinking about how he could add his name to the franchise's rich history.He was too busy trying to figure out how to avoid being buried under it."You realize that if you're going to break records here, you're probably going to break bad ones," he recently said. "Because none of the good ones are reachable."While achieving Red Auerbach status may not be on Stevens' radar, in just his fifth season there's no question the 41-year-old is also beyond being the wide-eyed former Butler University coach who arrived in Boston.In a timeframe that has often already swallowed up most first-time NBA coaches, he's managed to endear himself to a championship-driven city by helping Boston make an improbable run back to the Eastern Conference finals.The Celtics seemingly had their championship hopes derailed following the season-ending injuries to both of their offseason... [More]

TORONTO (AP) — Masai Ujiri believes Dwane Casey deserves to be recognized as the best coach in the NBA, but the Toronto president doesn't think Casey should be leading the Raptors.So the Raptors fired Casey, praising him on his way out the door.Hours after the Raptors announced they were parting ways with Casey on Friday — days after the team was swept in the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second straight season — Ujiri said he doesn't think he will ever work with a better person."Nothing in particular that coach Casey did wrong, but I think it was time for this to happen," he said.Casey led the Raptors to a franchise-record 59 wins this season as Toronto earned the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time. He posted a 320-238 record in seven seasons and is the franchise's winningest coach."I hope coach Casey gets coach of the year, because he deserves it," Ujiri said. "I saw everything he did here. I saw the job he did this year. He deserves it."But that wasn't... [More]

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — There haven't been any championship banners hoisted into Boston's hallowed rafters since 2008.LeBron James won't let go of the rope.Cleveland's star has bounced the Celtics from the playoffs four times in the past seven years, and James carries a six-game postseason winning streak at Boston into this year's Eastern Conference finals, which open Sunday at TD Garden.As a member of both the Miami Heat and Cavaliers, James — whose success against Boston did a 180-degree turn with a mesmerizing Game 6 performance in 2012 — has made the Celtics green(er) with envy.But while the 33-year-old has the utmost respect for the NBA's most decorated franchise, James' admiration hasn't stopped him from standing in the way of Boston stuffing more Larry O'Brien trophies into its crowded case.And if he beats the Celtics again and advances to his eighth straight NBA Finals, James would join a club currently exclusive to Boston players with legendary status.Only Bill Russell (10),... [More]

TORONTO (AP) — Masai Ujiri believes Dwane Casey deserves to be recognized as the best coach in the NBA, but the Toronto president doesn't think Casey should be leading the Raptors.So the Raptors fired Casey, praising him on his way out the door.Hours after the Raptors announced they were parting ways with Casey on Friday — days after the team was swept in the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second straight season — Ujiri said he doesn't think he will ever work with a better person."Nothing in particular that coach Casey did wrong, but I think it was time for this to happen," he said.Casey led the Raptors to a franchise-record 59 wins this season as Toronto earned the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time. He posted a 320-238 record in seven seasons and is the franchise's winningest coach."I hope coach Casey gets coach of the year, because he deserves it," Ujiri said. "I saw everything he did here. I saw the job he did this year. He deserves it."But that wasn't... [More]

The regular season is irrelevant.That's the message the Toronto Raptors sent Friday when they fired Dwane Casey, two days after his now-former peers in the NBA said he did the best coaching job in the league this season. Casey led the Raptors to the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference this season, along with the second-best record in the league. He even got to coach in the All-Star game.Didn't matter.Swept in the playoffs, swept out of Toronto.The Raptors were good this season. They weren't great. And they can't beat LeBron James, who has engineered the ouster of Toronto now in each of the last three seasons, the last two of them being sweeps. So Casey paid the price, and with that comes the reminder: Winning isn't enough in this NBA. Coaches must meet expectations, regardless of how misguided they may be."In some ways I think the time has come," Raptors President Masai Ujiri said Friday, a few hours after telling Casey that he was done in Toronto. "Sometimes these things come to an end,... [More]

TORONTO (AP) — The Toronto Raptors fired Dwane Casey on Friday after the team was swept in the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second straight season.Toronto President Masai Ujiri said the move was a "very difficult but necessary step."The 61-year-old Casey led the Raptors to a franchise-record 59 wins and a top seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time. He posted a 320-238 record in seven seasons and is the franchise's winningest coach.The Raptors won four Atlantic Division titles and advanced to the postseason five consecutive seasons. But Toronto could not get past the puzzle of the Cavaliers and LeBron James in the playoffs."As a team, we are constantly trying to grow and improve in order to get to the next level," Ujiri said in the statement released by the team.Ujiri thanked Casey for what he's done for the organization, saying Casey was "instrumental in creating the identity and culture of who we are as a team."The Raptors will hold a news conference Friday afternoon... [More]

TORONTO (AP) — The Toronto Raptors have fired Dwane Casey after the team was swept in the playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers for second straight season.Toronto President Masai Ujiri on Friday said the move was a "very difficult but necessary step.""As a team, we are constantly trying to grow and improve in order to get to the next level," Ujiri said in the statement released by the team.Ujiri thanked Casey for what he has done for the organization, saying Casey was "instrumental in creating the identity and culture of who we are as a team."The Raptors will hold a news conference Friday afternoon and are expected to provide more details on the decision to part ways with Casey.The move comes two days after Casey was honored as coach of the year by the National Basketball Coaches Association.Casey, 61, led the Raptors to a franchise-record 59 wins and a top seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time. He posted a 320-238 record and is the franchise's winningest coach.The Raptors won... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Boston playoff star Jayson Tatum and Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue are cousins. The Cavaliers and Celtics might as well be.The Eastern Conference's top two teams have been intertwined for more than a year — from a summer blockbuster trade, from opening night, from afar.Although there were long stretches this season when it seemed at least unlikely, and maybe impossible, that the Celtics and Cavs would reach the conference finals, they're back again and meeting in the playoffs for the third time in four years.The series everyone wanted. The one few expected to see.And yet here they are: the odds-defying Celtics, guided by baby-faced coach Brad Stevens and prospering without injured stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, versus the Cavs, who despite a massive roster makeover in February are rolling as 33-year-old LeBron James enhances his legend with every game."There's been a lot that's happened throughout the season with us and for them," Cavs forward Kevin Love said Thursday... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Boston playoff star Jayson Tatum and Cleveland coach Tyronn Lue are cousins. The Cavaliers and Celtics might as well be.The Eastern Conference's top two teams have been intertwined for more than a year — from a summer blockbuster trade, from opening night, from afar.Although there were long stretches this season when it seemed at least unlikely, and maybe impossible, that the Celtics and Cavs would reach the conference finals, they're back again and meeting in the playoffs for the third time in four years.The series everyone wanted. The one few expected to see.And yet here they are: the odds-defying Celtics, guided by baby-faced coach Brad Stevens and prospering without injured stars Kyrie Irving and Gordon Hayward, versus the Cavs, who despite a massive roster makeover in February are rolling as 33-year-old LeBron James enhances his legend with every game."There's been a lot that's happened throughout the season with us and for them," Cavs forward Kevin Love said Thursday... [More]

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Philadelphia 76ers have morphed from laughingstock to legitimate Eastern Conference contender in just two seasons.But just how far can The Process take them?— Was a 52-win season that ended with a five-game loss to the Boston Celtics in the conference semis just part of the learning curve on the way toward NBA titles?— Or are the Sixers destined to become a Toronto/Indiana-type of franchise where strong regular seasons end up with postseason disappointment and championships?Those are suddenly fun problems for a team to have only two years removed from a 10-win season and serious doubts about the future of a rebuilding plan both condemned and praised by zealots on both sides. Joel Embiid (22.9 points, 11 rebounds) made his first All-Star team and seemed worth every bit of the $148 million, five-year extension he signed before the season. Ben Simmons was a regular triple-double threat and emerged as a favorite to win rookie of the year. Those two should anchor Philly's... [More]

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — Rodney Hood got an unusual reaction when he apologized to his Cleveland teammates for refusing to check into Game 4 against Toronto.They laughed.The chaotic Cavaliers have dealt with bigger nonsense this season."They was like, 'Hood, that's not really a distraction' because of everything that they've been through this year," he said. "So they all took light of it. They understand, so it wasn't anything really."Hood added another distraction to a season full of them on Tuesday night when he waved off coach Tyronn Lue's request to replace LeBron James during the fourth quarter of the Cavs' blowout win over the Raptors. The Cavs were ahead by 30 when Hood, whose playing time has dwindled in the postseason, told Lue to put in Jose Calderon instead.Hood said he told Lue to "just let Jose play" and then regretted his decision."I should have known because I didn't play throughout the duration of the game that it was gonna look bad, but it wasn't (as bad) as people was... [More]

INDEPENDENCE, Ohio (AP) — Cleveland Cavaliers forward Rodney Hood has apologized to coach Tyronn Lue and his teammates for refusing to check into Game 4 against Toronto.Hood, who has lost playing time throughout the playoffs, didn't check in during the fourth quarter Tuesday night when the Cavaliers completed a sweep. Cleveland was leading by 30 points when Lue told Hood to replace LeBron James.The 25-year-old Hood said he knew "it was going to look bad" and regrets his decision. Hood said his teammates accepted his apology and laughed off the situation after all the drama they've been through this season.Hood began the playoffs in the starting lineup but averaged less than one point against the Raptors. He's confident he can have an impact against Boston in the Eastern Conference finals.___More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball

The franchise with the most titles. The best player of this generation. The reigning champions. The probable MVP.The NBA has its Final Four.It certainly does not disappoint.Boston's win over Philadelphia on Wednesday night brought down the curtain on the postseason's second round — one that wasn't exactly loaded with drama, since it was the first time since 2002 that none of the NBA's four conference semifinal series went past five games. Cleveland swept Toronto, while Houston, Golden State and the Celtics all prevailed by 4-1 counts.Everyone gets to catch their collective breaths for a few days, with the league going dark until the weekend. Cleveland and Boston don't tip off the Eastern Conference finals until Sunday, and the Warriors and Rockets start their West title series on Monday. And yes, the Cavaliers and Warriors are four wins away from a fourth consecutive meeting in the NBA Finals.A few things to know going into the conference finals:LEBRON, OF COURSEAny list of anything this... [More]

BOSTON (AP) — The Boston Celtics have been mining possibility out of improbable odds throughout the 2017-2018 season.A season filled with so much promise was jolted just five minutes into their season opener back in October when Gordon Hayward was lost for the year to a fractured ankle.It looked to be derailed for sure when Marcus Smart suffered a torn ligament in his thumb in March, followed by Kyrie Irving being sidelined for the season a month later following a pair of knee surgeries.Yet, after completing a 4-1 series win with their 114-112 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday night, the Celtics are somehow back where no one — except maybe only them — believed they could be: headed to a second straight Eastern Conference final.A rematch with Cleveland Cavaliers and LeBron James awaits them, but for a Celtics team that has had to trudge uphill throughout the season, still playing at this point of the postseason feels like reason to celebrate.Coach Brad Stevens said this group... [More]

The franchise with the most titles. The best player of this generation. The reigning champions. The probable MVP.The NBA has its Final Four.It certainly does not disappoint.Boston's win over Philadelphia on Wednesday night brought down the curtain on the postseason's second round — one that wasn't exactly loaded with drama, since it was the first time since 2002 that none of the NBA's four conference semifinal series went past five games. Cleveland swept Toronto, while Houston, Golden State and the Celtics all prevailed by 4-1 counts.Everyone gets to catch their collective breaths for a few days, with the league going dark until the weekend. Cleveland and Boston don't tip off the Eastern Conference finals until Sunday, and the Warriors and Rockets start their West title series on Monday. And yes, the Cavaliers and Warriors are four wins away from a fourth consecutive meeting in the NBA Finals.A few things to know going into the conference finals:LEBRON, OF COURSEAny list of anything this... [More]

The buildup for this series truly began in February, with some pointed comments from Golden State's Draymond Green.Or in October, when Houston won at Golden State on ring night.Or in June, when the Rockets landed Chris Paul.Whenever it started, however it started, it's clear that this is the series that the NBA-watching world wanted. Western Conference finals, Golden State versus Houston, Game 1 on Monday on the Rockets' home floor. Series winner to the NBA Finals, series loser will undoubtedly feel like they let a championship ring slip away."They got us. We got them," Green said. "Got to go out there and play. We'll see who better."After more than 10 months of playing, posturing and some pontificating, it really is that simple.This Rockets team was assembled — the key being the trade for Paul last summer — with hopes of unseating the reigning champion Warriors from their perch atop the NBA. So far, so good. Houston set a franchise record with 65 wins in the regular season, went 2-1 against... [More]

TORONTO (AP) — To DeMar DeRozan, regular-season and playoff basketball are as different as checkers and chess.In LeBron James, DeRozan and the Toronto Raptors keep running into the ultimate grandmaster. Their inability to beat him might force coach Dwane Casey into a cruel checkmate.Toronto's postseason fizzled out against a familiar foe on Monday night when James and the Cleveland Cavaliers finished off back-to-back second-round sweeps of Toronto. It's the third straight year the Cavs have bounced the Raptors from the playoffs.After a franchise-record 59 wins, good for the top seed in the Eastern Conference, it was as tough a defeat as DeRozan has endured."This is probably the toughest, most frustrating, difficult, lowest feeling I've had," DeRozan said Tuesday. "You get to that point where you're standing firm through everything and you feel like you can't get knocked down again, and you realize you do get knocked back down again. It's kind of the worst feeling."Teammate Kyle Lowry was... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — Rodney Hood's playoff problems now extend to off the court.Hood, who has seen his role reduced during his first postseason with Cleveland, will not be fined or suspended for refusing to enter Monday night's Game 4 blowout win over the Toronto Raptors in the fourth quarter, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.Hood feels bad about the incident that happened with 7:38 left in the fourth quarter, and he expressed remorse on Tuesday to team officials about becoming a distraction, said the person who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.The person said disciplinary actions against Hood "were never a consideration."The Athletic first reported that Hood had angered teammates and others in the organization by rejecting coach Tyronn Lue's instruction to enter the game.With Cleveland leading 110-80 and on its way to sweeping the series, the Cavs called timeout to replace superstar LeBron James. Lue told Hood... [More]

CLEVELAND (AP) — A person familiar with the situation says the Cleveland Cavaliers will not fine or suspend forward Rodney Hood for refusing to enter Game 4 against Toronto.The Athletic first reported that Hood declined coach Tyronn Lue's request to replace LeBron James with 7:38 left and the Cavs leading by 30, angering his teammates and others in the organization. Hood spoke to team officials about the incident Tuesday and will not be disciplined, said the person who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.The person said Hood expressed regret for the incident and "didn't want to be a distraction."Hood has struggled in the playoffs after being acquired in a February trade from Utah. The 25-year-old is averaging 4.6 points in 17 minutes and hasn't looked comfortable in Cleveland's offense.The Cavs advanced to the Eastern Conference finals by sweeping the Raptors.__More AP NBA: https://apnews.com/tag/NBAbasketball