Casey: Raptors 'don't want to poke a bear' like Whiteside

The Toronto Raptors leveled their second-round series with the Miami Heat on Thursday night, in large part because Jonas Valanciunas got the better of Hassan Whiteside in the battle of the bigs.

Whiteside has been terrific in the series so far, namely as a deterrent to Toronto's guards on would-be drives to the rim. Through two games, he's blocked four shots (and altered countless others), swiped five steals, and grabbed 30 rebounds.

In Thursday's Game 2, though, he looked a bit ragged, and perhaps a bit hobbled from the minor knee injury he suffered in Game 1. Valanciunas beat him out for offensive rebounds, scored on him in the post seemingly at will, and helped force him into four turnovers at the other end. Valanciunas was a plus-17 for the game. Whiteside was a minus-10.

Struggling Raptors guard DeMar DeRozan shouted out his teammate's massive contributions after the game, and managed to throw a bit of shade at Whiteside in the process.

"It's been big," DeRozan said. "You've obviously seen who's the dominant big out there when it comes to rebounding, scoring, and he's been doing a lot for us."

Whiteside, when the comments were relayed to him, seemed more than happy to use them as fuel.

"I like that," Whiteside said. "I like that he said that."

Raptors head coach Dwane Casey, however, did not.

"You don't want to a poke a bear," Casey said Friday. "You want to make sure the bear is dead before you poke it."

Whiteside is far from dead. He and the Heat head back to Miami having wrested away home-court advantage in the series, and set to host Game 3 on Saturday in a building where they're 31-14 (including the playoffs) this season.

The bear has been poked. How will he respond?