DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph are two key players of the Raptors' postseason success, and now they are being criticized for allegedly attending a Cleveland casino the morning of Game 5 against the Cavs.
According to the Toronto Sun, the Raptor duo was spotted downtown at the Jack Casino at about 2 a.m. Wednesday. The team played against the Cavs at 8:30 p.m. later that day with Carroll (a starter) going 2 of 7 from the field for five points and two rebounds. Coming off the bench, Joseph went 1 of 5 in 10 minutes for three points and committed three turnovers.
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Obviously, Carroll and Joseph didn't play well, but none of the Raptors played well. Pinpointing the loss on these two players would be insane, and coach Dwayne Casey agrees.
“This isn’t why we lost," he told the Sun. "This is the NBA, they’re grown men. These are grown men. These things happen.”
These players aren't exactly working on a normal schedule. They play late games, have to deal with media afterwards and don't leave the arena until well past midnight. Then the adrenaline from just playing keeps them up later, so it's not unusual for them to be up late.
The fact they went to a casino isn't a big deal, either. There aren't many details about what exactly they did. It doesn't sound like they caused a scene or did anything noteworthy other than just being out late.
There's enough evidence of these two showing dedication to their craft in the past to know they weren't just wandering around downtown purposely trying to hurt their team's chances in the playoffs.
Cory Joseph wanted to get better so he asked Popovich to play in the D-League: https://t.co/WmhyRHGbvl
— Scott Hastie (@Scott1Hastie) May 26, 2016
DeMarre Carroll was shot in the ankle, bounced back to continue playing the NCAA.
— Scott Hastie (@Scott1Hastie) May 26, 2016
Carroll and Joseph take their job seriously, and them being out late does not damage their character. Nor does it provide an excuse for the team's loss Wednesday.
