Toronto Raptors Players Spotted at Cleveland Casino Before Humiliating Defeat in NBA Eastern Finals

Posted on: May 26, 2016, 12:43h. 

Last updated on: May 26, 2016, 12:45h.

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The Toronto Raptors are having a historic season. Founded in 1995, the only international team in the National Basketball Association (NBA) went 56-26 to win the Atlantic Division and is now playing in their first Eastern Conference Finals against the conference’s top-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers.

After being manhandled in games one and two, the Raptors regained momentum in the series by winning the next two at home in Toronto. Branded “We The North,” everything went south Wednesday night when the two teams returned to Cleveland.

For all intensive purposes, the game was over at halftime as Cleveland led by 31 points following just two quarters of play. It ended 116-78, giving the Cavs a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven contest.

Some 18 hours before game five tipped off, Raptors players DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph were spotted in downtown Cleveland around 2 am Wednesday morning at the JACK Casino. Carroll is one of five starters for the Raptors.

Asked after the game about two of his players being in a casino at 2 am, Toronto head coach Dwane Casey told reporters, “I didn’t know that. It was an 8:30 game. That’s the good thing I guess.”

Casino Games Over NBA Games

Carroll is certainly not Kyle Lowry or DeMar DeRozan, the team’s scoring superstars, but the small forward has become an integral part of the Raptors’ overall success in the postseason. Joseph comes off the bench to relieve Lowry.

None of the Raptors played well Wednesday, the score making that more than evident, but Carroll and Joseph were exceptionally bad.

Carroll went 2-7 from the field including 0-4 from behind the three-point line. He scored a total of five points in 27 minutes of playing time.

Joseph went 1-5 from the field and 0-3 from the arc for three points in 10 minutes.

Casey didn’t credit Carroll and Joseph’s late-night antics for their poor play.

“This isn’t why we lost,” Casey stated. “This is the NBA, they’re grown men. . . This has nothing to do with a curfew.”

Game six between the Cavs and Raptors is Friday night at 8:30 pm ET.

Warriors on Brink

It seemed unfathomable before the playoffs started to think that the Golden State Warriors wouldn’t at least reach the NBA Finals for the second consecutive year. During the 2015-2016 regular season, the defending champs accomplished what was previously thought to be unachievable by breaking the Chicago Bulls’ 72-win mark.

Sportsbooks in Vegas had the Warriors heavily favored to repeat as NBA champs, but tonight they face elimination. The Oklahoma City Thunder have shocked the league by going up three games to one on MVP Steph Curry’s squad.

Once considered almost a sure thing for the Finals, the Warriors now sit at odds of 4/1 to win the title. Cleveland leads the way at 11/10, with the Thunder at 3/2.

Toronto is listed at 150/1, as oddsmakers apparently believe last night’s beating will lead to the Raptors’ extinction.

Perhaps Carroll and Joseph will hit up Vegas Thursday to place a wager on those odds.