Probably the best way to describe that one yesterday was that it was a “tidy” win. No muss, no fuss, took care of business in a businesslike manner and on to the next one.

But there was this:

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THREE POINTERS

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A nice number

So Dwane Casey got to game No. 500 as the Raptors head coach yesterday, far and away the most (Sam, 345, which is almost two full season shorter) and by far the most successful (278 wins to 156 for Sam) and, really, it’s quite an accomplishment.

Take this into consideration:

Of the 29 other head coaches in the NBA, only three have been with their current teams for 500 or more games.

Pop, of course, leads the list 1,683 in San Antonio; Rick Carlisle’s been in Dallas for 759 games and Erik Spoelstra’s been in Miami for 747.

I know coaches are recycled and there are many that have more than Casey’s career total of 622 but, still, 500 here or with any one team seems to be quite a feat.

There’s no arguing with his success, there’s no arguing that he has the ability to develop players and handle both veterans and youngsters and his approach to his job has not wavered one iota since he got here.

Yeah, there might have been slight strategic alterations based on personnel but the measure of his leadership is delivering the same message of accountability, teamwork, playing for the guy sitting next to you and doing the right thing as often as possible. And that’s what he’s about, what his bosses see in him, what his players appreciate in him.

Five hundred may not be historically huge but it’s a nice number and he should be proud to get to it with one time.

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OG takes notice

One thing that illustrates the inexperience of OG Anunoby – who has exceeded all expectations to this point – is that he gets beat a bit too often by backdoor cuts. It’s an experience thing solely and Casey and the staff are working with him to be a bit more aware.

Was nice to see him turn the tables yesterday, cutting along the baseline while the Kings all had their heads turned watching the ball to take a drop off pass from DeRozan and dunk.

That’s something he’s going to figure out how to do more frequently as the season goes on and will make him far more valuable than if he just stays in the corner looking to shoot threes.

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Do it some more

One of things we don’t see a lot of with this new emphasis on ball movement on offence is a Lowry-DeRozan screen-roll, which I think is one of the more effective things they run because opponents tend to switch on it and it seldom works.

Saw one yesterday late that worked wonderfully, Lowry had a little guy on him, DeRozan was being guarded by a bigger guard.

DeRozan set the screen, the Kings switched, Lowry got him the ball back, two dribbles, DeRozan elevated easily over the smaller defender and made a jump shot.

They run it a lot against Golden State to get a switch where Curry is guarding DeRozan and Thompson’s on Lowry; I’d like to see it a bit more often.

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Some more? Sure.

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All right, we’re two weeks out from the big day and if I have to listen to Christmas music in every story, bar, restaurant and hotel lobby I’m in, it’s time to get started, right?

Usually finish with this one, let’s turn it around this year.

Music video by Bing Crosby performing The Little Drummer Boy / Peace On Earth. HLC Properties Ltd., under license to Beach Road Music, LLC

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As we know, I love to dog Pearson because it’s a bad airport with a lot of wasted space, the people who they employ to run lineups often have no clue, the parking garage at Terminal 3 was designed by someone who has never once parked a car in their lives and the baggage area in Terminal 1 with the never-ending lines is an embarrassment most times.

But they have done a good job reconfiguring the security areas in both terminals so that’s good and the Memphis flight left from the far end of Terminal 1, which was a shocking embarrassment for so many years. At least they’ve now opened space to sit and wait, which is a good thing and credit where it’s due. Now all they’ve got to do is figure out an easier, more spacious route to walk there.

Overall, though, it’s still in the bottom half of the North American ones I visit often.

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Lovely day for a parade, isn’t it?

I’m sure She Who Supports Arsenal and a few thousand of her closest friends will enjoy the celebration, I plan to be feet up on the couch.

But total hat’s off to the Reds for the win on Saturday. Sorry I had to miss seeing any of it but the allure of a late-afternoon direct flight from Memphis rather than a morning one through somewhere was too good to pass up.

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I believe tomorrow might be Lou Marsh Award day and that’s going to generate some interesting conversation, I would suspect.

I won’t be there because it’s not a thing I get invited to but that does give me today to figure out who they should vote for.

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No promises on how much game-related stuff we’ll have here tomorrow morning. Gonna be hard to keep this creaky old bones away for a 10:30 start and I may end up watching the game when I wake up.

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