KeonClark
Raptors Republic Icon
Mon May 27, 2019, 01:40 PM
If Fvv setting freaking all time nba shooting records the last 3 games has taught me anything, its never give up on anyone, and never think you're smart enough to know exactly how things will play out.
Zero people saw THAT coming from fred. Zero. Mama vanvleet never saw that coming.
It's Klaw Season. Time to hunt.
I have to sh*t on them first..... then repent. lol.
Danny Green sucks.
G__Deane
Everybody? Coaching is hilarious, you're a genius when you win and a moron when you lose. Quite often, the better coach loses (Not saying in this instance, just in general), because its not nearly as important as who your first best player or 2nd or 3rd best player is. None of these guys are complete morons, but any one of the coaches in the NBA would still be sitting in the finals if they coached Golden State for sure. Sorry Kerr. If Budenholzer and Nurse switched spots do Raptors move on? Tough to say, but I tend to think so.
Wait until *gasp* we drop a game in this series. Nurse will suddenly be a moron again and gettign out coached.
Rudy Bargnani
Raptors Republic All-Star
Fri May 31, 2019, 10:35 PM
The Great Jackie Macmullan with an awesome Nick Nurse article on ESPN tonight:
http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2...ney-nba-finals
DanH
Yeah that's a really good piece.
twitter.com/dhackett1565
Sat Jun 1, 2019, 01:56 AM
DanH wrote: View Post
I thought he was getting fired?
Rudy Bargnani wrote: View Post
I feel so vindicated in my support of Nurse
However, one loss and a few will be all over him again since they're smarter than an NBA rookie coach.
"Well, sure," responds Raptors guard Kyle Lowry. "Nick is very laid-back, very chill -- until you don't play hard."
No one was yukking it up when Nurse assembled his team in the film room the day after an embarrassing Game 1 loss to Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs. Nurse had been so jazzed the night before, he'd barely slept. He'd been ready.
Why weren't his players?
After forward Pascal Siakam bumped into Nurse before the session, he warned his teammates as he slid into his seat. "I could tell right away he was really upset," Siakam says. "You could see it in his face. Very tense. Unlike him. He was already riled up before he walked in."
Nurse, enraged by the subpar effort of a group that included veterans Lowry, Kawhi Leonard, Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Danny Green, spliced together damning examples of Toronto's lackadaisical approach.
"I had 17 clips I was going to show," Nurse says. "I think I stopped at one. I thought they understood how hard we needed to play because it was the playoffs. Apparently, they didn't."
Nurse made it clear he would not tolerate that. He yelled so loud, and so long, that he lost his voice, his players report. His spittle spewed perilously close to the suddenly attentive -- and surprised -- NBA millionaires.
"It wasn't pretty," Nurse says now. "I don't do that very often. It was by far the biggest bullet I used."
"He lit a fire under us," Green says. "We needed it. Orlando prepared us for Philly, which prepared us for Milwaukee. He got us locked in."
So read this again. He's actually teaching long term NBA veterans a thing or two. Even notoriously prickly ones like Lowry:
And that, according to his players and coaching peers, is the definition of Nick Nurse: a coach with a supple approach to a game that is constantly changing, and an ability to relate to players of all shapes, sizes and bank accounts.
"He's willing to try different things," Siakam says. "A lot of coaches aren't.
"Last year, I wasn't handling the ball. This year, Nick made it a priority. I'm not sure a lot of other coaches would give me that freedom or that trust."
"He's very good at adapting," Gasol says of Nurse. "Some of the things he does are eye-popping. He showed me some rebounding techniques that were really interesting. It sounds simple when you say it, but they make a difference."
"One thing Nick did was challenge us in terms of the physical play," Lowry says. "He made it clear, 'Listen, you have to be here to help. You can't be afraid to get hit."
Safe to say the guitar-toting, meme-inducing, spittle-spewing coach of the Raptors has found some traction of own. Ujiri claims there's no one (besides Kawhi Leonard) he'd rather have on his side down 15 with the season on the line.
"I say that because Nick really believes," Ujiri says. "So, you believe, too."
Sat Jun 1, 2019, 02:52 PM
Quite the piece. I look forward to what he has changed up for tomorrows game. Kerr must be wondering too... haha. With Dwayne ...woulda been same old same old and the team gets rolled by the other coach. Wonder if Nurse is just as inventive on the defensive side wrinkles or is there someone else on staff who is more responsible for that (eg the euro asst. coaches)?.
Sun Jun 2, 2019, 01:55 PM
Does Leonard's steady calmness rub off on his teammates?
"I would be lying to you if I said it didn't," said Lowry. "And also Marc [Gasol] and Danny [Green] and [head coach] Nick Nurse. I think Nick honestly yelled at us twice the whole year. That's legit: twice the whole year. And that's a long season to only yell at a team twice. I think that's just Nick and Kawhi and Marc and Danny — everyone is just kind of going out there and staying even-keeled.
It's great having the Global NBA Media horde focussed on 2 teams, 1 game, 1 city and country. One of those teams being the Raptors, the game is the NBA Finals Game 2 and in the city of Toronto in Canada...Man keep thinking It's only a dream but it's F'ing for real. Amazing.
Mon Jun 3, 2019, 02:17 PM
G__Deane wrote: View Post
Do you mean to tell me theres more to coaching than what armchair GMs think they know from their mobile phone? That perhaps there's other things he does that aren't just "rotations and subs"???
Nurse really needs to find a way to attack Cousins and Curry. An offensive rating of 104 isn't going to cut it. You have 2 weak links on defense and even then, Golden State wasn't a top ranked defense all year when healthy..... they were 13th. They won last night on guts and guile. And to top that off, they have multiple guys banged up.
Nurse has proven his defensive acumen, now the final act is to show what he was hired for.... his offensive chops. A big part of that should involve Lowry stepping up, perhaps getting switches on Cousins and raining 3's on him or exploiting his limited lateral movement and blowing by him.
Yeah, but what FG% did they shoot? I get it's not necessarily that simple but they created, and missed, a pile of wide, wide open shots that they've been making for a week or more now. They also had 15 turnovers and I'm willing to wager more than half were unforced. I was watching last night with an old basketball hand and he pointed out after he thought outside of the turnovers there was a lot of poor decision-making as well on offense by the Raps, which if true, and I trust his judgment, then it's more on the players than the coach. Nurse also can't keep Lowry from being a bonehead and missing the last few minutes of the game when the offense completely broke down without him on the floor....