Allgemeines » mens. The line played so poorly that San Dieg

TORONTO - On Saturday afternoon, less than three years after winning an unlikely championship together in Dallas, Dwane Casey and Jason Kidd will sit on opposite ends of the Air Canada Centre sideline, getting set to make their postseason debut as head coaches. Just ahead of tip-off, as their teams stretch, shoot around and a sellout crowd - draped in white - files into the building, the two coaches will meet at centre court. Theyll shake hands, exchange a few words then return to their respective benches in the hopes of sending the other home for an early summer vacation. They havent spoken since finding out that the Raptors and Nets would face off in round one of the Eastern Conference playoffs, which isnt to say theres a lack of mutual respect between the two. On the contrary, theres actually a whole lot of it. Friendship is for the offseason, Casey always boasts. Until then, these former colleagues have a job to do, and theyre in each others way. Theyve traveled down dissimilar paths to get to this point. Casey, who celebrated his 57th birthday on Thursday, has been coaching in the NBA for over two decades. After serving as a long-time assistant under George Karl in Seattle, he spent a couple seasons as the head man with the Timberwolves, where he coached Nets veteran and future hall of famer Kevin Garnett. In 2011, his third season as Rick Carlisles lead assistant in Dallas, Casey helped guide the experienced Mavericks to an unexpected championship, with Kidd starting at point guard. Kidd, now 41, was in season 17 of his illustrious 19-year career. He was a retired NBA player for 10 days before becoming a head coach this past summer. "First of all, I texted him and [asked] him if hes lost his mind," Casey joked, asked about Kidds move to the bench earlier this season. The Nets controversial decision to hand the reins over to Kidd, fresh off his final campaign in New York, was met with more criticism than any coaching hire in recent memory. When his first season as a bench boss got off to a rocky start many called for his head, but he had a steadfast supporter in Casey, who knew it was only a matter of time before Kidd and his veteran Nets team rocketed back to top of the East. "Hes going to be a good coach because he was a computer on the floor and he just has to transfer that to his players," Casey said ahead of a late November meeting between the two teams. The Nets were 3-10 going into that game. "It takes time." "Hes one of the toughest minded guys Ive been around and Ive coached, and Ive been around some strong minded guys, but he was definitely one of them," Casey added prior to their next meeting, two months later. The Nets, 10-21 on Jan. 1, had won five in a row before losing in Toronto that night. "I knew mentally he was going to stay strong and stay into it and it would be a matter of time." Brooklyn would go on to finish the campaign with the second best record among Eastern Conference teams in 2014 and Kidd became a two-time Coach of the Month winner. As Casey met with the media Friday afternoon, less than 24 hours before Game 1, the Raptors coach was caught off guard when one reporter pointed out that he and Kidd would be sharing their playoff head coaching debuts. "I never thought about that," he said in earnest, but hes not the least bit surprised to see his counterpart in the position that hes in. "Jason was always a step ahead of the curve," said Casey, the Easts Coach of the Month for December. "I think point guards are coaches on the floor, they should be. Theyve gone through their whole career figuring out things on the fly, on the court. So I think thats the difference in Jason. Jason has been a thinker his whole career and hes doing a good job with Brooklyn." For these old friends, this series should turn into something of a chess match. The Nets rookie coach has a veteran-laden roster at his disposal. A big factor in his teams 2014 reversal of fortunes has been Kidds commitment to a small lineup, starting a couple of point guards in the backcourt and using Paul Pierce as their mobile, perimeter-oriented power forward. "I think they established an identity, much like we did," Casey told TSN.ca in an exclusive conversation Friday. "I think putting Pierce at the four position was a huge turnaround for them. Solidifying the smaller lineup really helped them." Casey has the benefit of a versatile roster. With Amir Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas, the Raptors can go against the grain and put pressure on the visiting Nets with a size and strength advantage or they can match-up using their own version of the small lineup. "Philosophy is personnel driven," Casey wisely pointed out. With Johnson and Patrick Patterson - two versatile forwards who can rebound and also step out and defend on the perimeter - Torontos coach is confident his team can utilize both their small and big units with success in this series. "Its going to be huge," he said of that versatility. "If we stay big weve got to really pound the boards and take advantage of it if they stay small but at the same time theyre such a lethal three-point shooting team. Its hard for our bigs, with our mentality to get out and guard the three-point line in those situations so were going to have to figure that out as far as when we do go small, who has the advantage. If we have an advantage on the boards or inside well try to do that but if were getting killed with three-point shooting then well have to make some adjustments." Caseys quiet confidence and poise has rubbed off on his team all season but those characteristics have never been more important than they are now. By now youve heard of their inexperience, Caseys embraced it because, what choice does he have? They cant pretend like theyve been somewhere they havent, they wont pretend to be something theyre not. If you want to count them out because of it, Casey understands, but he doesnt advise it. "I dont want to diminish [experience], its very important," he said. "In any walk of life its important if youre going to do a job at a high level to have as much experience as you can possibly have. We are who we are, we cant change it. The way our guys get experience is to go through this. But at the end of the day you still have to go out and play the game. Theres been a lot of young teams that beat older teams in the history of the game and were ready for that challenge. I think were better with a chip on our shoulder, being the desperate team. I think we struggle when were the favourite so I like that part about it. I dont even talk about it to our players, about experience. 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The Brewers finalized a US$36 million, three-year contract with free agent third baseman Aramis Ramirez on Wednesday, adding a much-needed bat to their lineup.SAN DIEGO - More than 24 hours later, Antonio Gates still couldnt believe it — or explain it.The Chargers 37-0 loss at Miami on Sunday was their worst defeat in 18 years.Ive never been a part of something of that magnitude at all in my sports life, period, said the star tight end, whos been with the Chargers since 2003.What had Gates shaking his head Monday afternoon was that a Philip Rivers-led team crossed the 50-yard line only once, on the opening drive. That drive ended when rookie Branden Oliver was stuffed on fourth-and-1 from the Miami 22.In this league, you just dont lose like that. Guys are too talented, guys are too good. It just wasnt our day, Gates said.I dont want to blame absolutely no one. I take the blame about what I could have done to prevent that, he added. Thats the message that we as veteran leaders send to the rest of the group: What can you do better to help us win. What can you do better to help us prevent a situation like that. Thats real hard to do. I mean, for a team to beat us like that, it just wasnt the San Diego Chargers that Ive been a part of that, that weve built. It wasnt our best performance by far.The Chargers (5-4) are in a freefall going into their bye, having lost three straight games by increasingly larger margins.After rallying to beat winless Oakland, the Chargers lost at home to Kansas City, 23-20, and then on the road to Denver, 35-21. Theyve gone from being tied for the NFLs best recoord at 5-1 to now needing to rally to get a playoff berth.ddddddddddddSundays debacle was their worst loss since a 45-7 defeat to New England in 1996. It was their first shutout loss since a 34-0 defeat at Kansas City in 1999, when Jim Harbaugh was their quarterback.Rivers was intercepted three times and lost a fumble. It got so bad that Rivers made way for backup Kellen Clemens. The line played so poorly that San Diego had only 50 yards on 19 rushes.Coach Mike McCoy didnt have any answers on Monday.We flat out played poor, obviously. Look at the scoreboard. Its not going to lie, McCoy said.The coach said no one could blame the preparation.We had the right mindset going in, understanding the importance of the next game, playing a good team, on the road, going to Miami, what it means playing a conference opponent and whats at stake there, the importance of those games. We played poor as a team. We did a poor job coaching.When you get beat 37-0 you obviously did something wrong, McCoy said. Its hard for me to think of a game that Ive been involved in thats been like that in a long time. Its part of the game and its a perfect example of, you dont go out and play your best game, youre going to get exposed. We got exposed in a lot of areas.After their bye, the Chargers host the Raiders.___Follow Bernie Wilson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/berniewilson___Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL ' ' '