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Toronto Raptors' Cory Joseph, Bismack Biyombo, Patrick Patterson, Luis Scola, DeMarre Carroll and Jonas Valanciunas, fromleft, sit on the bench during the second half of Game 5 of the NBA Eastern Conference Finals.Tony Dejak/The Associated Press

The Toronto Raptors say many factors led to the team's humiliating 116-78 Game 5 loss in Cleveland, but a late-night casino trip by DeMarre Carroll and Cory Joseph was definitely not one of them.

Returning home to Toronto to prepare for a win-or-go-home Game 6 in the Eastern Conference final, the Raptors were pressed to react to a Toronto Sun report that the two players were seen at 2 a.m. at a Cleveland casino before Game 5. Coach Dwane Casey and his players stood behind Carroll and Joseph, saying they weren't breaking any team rules, and that NBA players simply keep late hours.

Carroll and Joseph said they were not drinking, and they didn't miss out on any of the sleep or hurt their game preparation.

"We actually were walking with two policemen and two of the staff who were escorting us back to the hotel, because they didn't want fans running up to us and all those types of things," Carroll said.

Like most athletes, the Raptors players nap during the day to be ready for evening games.

"Our sleep schedule is different from a person that works 9 to 5," Joseph said. "I didn't do anything different daily in my routine before Game 5 than I did in any other game. I got my regular sleep. That day I got actually excessive sleep; I got about 11 hours."

Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan both said they thought it was much ado about nothing.

"I was in the room that night until 4 o'clock in the morning watching Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Would that be a story?" DeRozan said.

"I don't know the last time I was in bed before 2:30, 3. A lot of times I'd just be leaving the gym at 1, 2 in the morning just from shooting or doing an ice tub, whatever it may be.

"We deal with a lot of energy that we only get to exert probably 2 1/2 hours out of the day, and that's when we're playing. The rest of the day there are other things we try to do to have a life."

Casey said there is no team curfew, and the players are responsible for getting rest when they need it.

"Every team I've ever been with in the NBA hasn't had a curfew. It was a late game. They had all the next day to get their rest," Casey said. "Different guys have different ways of letting off steam, and they're grown men. They were there legally. It wasn't like they were drinking, partying at a club. You know, that was not [what] my concern [was] – my concern was getting our butt kicked with 19 turnovers and 21 rebounds, and them being at a casino right across the street or wherever it was had nothing to do with it."

On Friday, trailing 3-2 in the series, the Raps must fend off a Cavaliers team hungry for the win needed to return to the NBA championship. The Raptors, coming off two series that went to seven games, know the pressures of elimination games.

"We've been doing it all year, and we always come back and bounce back even better," DeRozan said. "I think we just thrive off adversity at the end of the day."

The Raps' dreadful 38-point loss was thanks to several factors. Toronto's 19 turnovers led to 30 Cleveland points. The Cavs amped up their blitzes on Lowry and DeRozan, which took the Toronto all-star duo out of the game. Cleveland's thundering crowd was overbearing, as was the enormity of the moment for a Raptors team in relatively uncharted waters.

"Nobody except for Cory, I think, has been to the conference finals as far as a player is concerned, and so that's new territory for us," Casey said. "But again, there's nothing new about competing, playing hard, hitting people, getting on the floor for loose balls, all the fundamentals that take place with force on the offensive end that you've done before. That can help us overcome the moment."

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