CLEVELAND—It has been a long, slow climb for Dwane Casey, a methodical painstaking process he feels cannot be rushed, coaxing the Toronto Raptors through five years of incremental improvement and unwilling to deviate from what he feels best.
It has been by contrast a meteoric rise for Tyronn Lue, a unproven NBA head coach who had to make an imprint on the Cleveland Cavaliers immediately and quickly, moving a couple seats to the right on the bench and light years in reality.
The differences between the two coaches in the NBA Eastern Conference final are stark and considerable — think LeBron James compared to Bruno Caboclo, perhaps — and will be picked upon no matter what happens in the best-of-seven series that began Tuesday night.