Barely a few hours had passed after, when, as the Mavs were out celebrating their first-ever championship, Casey was in negotiations to take on the head coaching position with the Raptors. A position that would come with the somewhat daunting task of turning around a franchise with, at the time, a seemingly bleak future.
Casey succeeded, establishing a string of franchise-bests and helping lead the Raptors to consecutive playoff appearances and their first ever conference finals. But, like Dr. Frankenstein, he created a monster that would lead to his own playoff demise. Following his Herculean 43-point, 14-assist performance against the Raptors in Game 2 of their second-round series last night, James took to the podium and, when asked about how his game has evolved, credited Casey’s defensive game-plan in that 2011 Finals for helping to shape the player he’s become. “Dwane Casey drew up a game plan,” James said looking back at the Mavs-Heat series, “to take away things I was very good at and to make me do things that I wasn’t very good at, so he’s part of the reason I am who I am today.” If it sounds overly simplistic, that’s because it was. I sat down with Casey earlier this season to tape an episode of Inside the Huddle, in which an ex-player or coach and I watch film of an iconic game they were a part of.