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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS VS. BUCKS

May 16, 2019

Nick Nurse

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Practice Day

Q. What does the tale of the tape tell you about last night?
NICK NURSE: Well, I thought we played really hard, really played our guts out. Really proud of our effort. I think there was all the concern about going in there and not being able to handle the emotional high from the other night.

And you know, you've been around me all year, you've heard me say this a lot, this team has handled downs pretty well and ups pretty well, and that's been one of our focuses since day one of training camp, so let's hope we can keep that going a little bit. You know, there were some things, as well, we needed to rebound the ball a little bit better, right, just to make sure -- and it's always a little tricky when you kind of start out in a fast-paced game and you're getting so much good stuff early in your offense, guys get a little anxious to get out in the offense a little bit, and I think we missed some block-outs because of that, and we just got to make sure that we're hanging in there and holding those block-outs and trying to move them back and using a little bit more physicality and securing the ball. That's probably one of the major concerns.

And then I think we did a decent job of moving the basketball. Decent is probably not good enough this time of year. We've got to do a special job of it. We've got to do a good job of each time down, when you've drawn one or two or three defenders, you've done your job, right? Your job is to create them in rotations, and then your job becomes to get it to the next guy, and that guy's job is to take the shot or swing it.

So what we call our relocation needs to be a little bit better so when two or three guys converge on the ball, we can find those little alleyways a little more cleanly, but other than that, it was a hell of a lot of good stuff on the tape, too.

Q. You have shown that ability to move the ball at times, especially since Marc [Gasol] came. Where is the challenge of creating it, not only in the Playoffs but against this team and the way they defend?
NICK NURSE: Well, I think this is what we would call a heavy-load team. A lot of the good defensive teams are heavy-load teams, so when something is happening in a penetrating fashion either via the pass or via the dribble, they're going to send bodies to protect. If you beat the bodies, you're at the rim. If you don't beat the bodies, you're going to have to find the next one out.

So it's just, again, we did that really well. I just think it's -- you're never going to do it perfect, but we've got to inch it further towards each possession, finding the right next play.

Q. You gave up 32 points in that fourth quarter. Was that because your offense stalled or your defense regressed?
NICK NURSE: Well, I think probably I said that the offense is a real key to this series, that if they're going to be playing with it off the rim, they're going to be coming at you pretty hard, and obviously we went through a streak there where we didn't make some shots. And we had a couple critical turnovers, as well. So I don't know, I think we put our defense in a bind because of the offense.

Q. Do you think any of the fourth quarter difficulty was exhaustion because you're playing such a thin lineup and they're playing --
NICK NURSE: No, I really don't think so. I mean, I think that you think it was a quick turnaround, you're on the road, travel. They played a lot of -- there's some stuff. But I didn't see a whole lot of like, oh, we're just outmatched here because we don't have the physical wind or strength or whatever here. I just think that the game was right there in the balance with three minutes to go, and you need some breaks. You need to make some breaks. You need the ball to bounce your way a little bit, and we didn't get really any.

But I don't buy that. It's like before the game, they said they got three or four guards that kind of look like Kyle [Lowry] out there, and I'm like, well, they can't play them all at the same time. They can only put five guys out there, and I thought our five guys were in pretty good shape.

Q. Your two big men, when you played [Serge] Ibaka and Gasol together, didn't work out. Did you see anything specific from those minutes?
NICK NURSE: Well, it didn't go very well, right, so -- we need to look at it, I think -- and again, I don't like to try to judge it on one little stint. You can get all over them if they're in the lineup out there to start the fourth quarter again if you wanted to, and then we go back and watch the tape and we missed a lay-up that would have put us up 9, and then we took a charge, they got a kick-out for a three that didn't get called, and Fred [VanVleet] missed a wide-open three and all of a sudden the seven-point lead was gone, but they played actually really well, it just didn't go well.

So I just think that -- we're going to play that lineup. We're going to play Serge and Mark together. We've just got to make sure that we get them a little more comfortable in what they're doing, both offensively and defensively, and I think there's some very specifically defined roles that we can find for them to do that.

Q. Kyle said you guys need to find more looks for Danny [Green], better shots for Danny. As Danny said himself, he's not a guy that you run a ton of plays for, so how do you find a balance between getting him going and --
NICK NURSE: Yeah, we need to run some more plays for him. I think we did try to run a couple there last night, and they just didn't quite get to where they needed to get to or just looked like it was a shot presenting itself and they closed it down a little bit, and you've got to move on to the next play.

But I agree. I think I always assume that in a scheme that we run offensively that they're doing defensively that the drive and kick and swing is going to get him his share, right, because they're rotating. It's not like they're face guarding and not -- they're making rotations, and it's just got to find him more. But again, our relocation and maybe his in particular needs to be a little bit better, and you're talking about three to four feet sometimes. The angle that they can't see you is the fine line, and we've just really got to go over that with a fine-tooth comb here to make sure we can kind of tweak that a little bit.

Q. How have you seen Kyle grow or evolve over the course of the year in terms of taking a bit of a step back with Kawhi but his evolution overall?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, I just think, again, his natural instincts as a player, to just play super hard, right, do whatever it takes, and then he's also got natural instincts as a leader. But I think he's -- that's where he's grown the most. I think he's just like -- he's just like fully on board all the time, know what I mean? He's focused in the film. Through the walk-throughs -- his IQ is super high and he's imparting that knowledge. He's switched on right now, and that is showing up, I think, in his play.

Q. Brook [Lopez] shooting that 38 of 40 foot three or Kyle doing it, what kind of stress is it putting on defenses, and where do you think it's going?
NICK NURSE: I think it's a really interesting part of the game right now, A, that the three-point shot has become such a humongous part of the game so quickly, in like five years, it's just gone, boom. People playing small, people playing 5s that shoot, all those things. It's really interesting.

And now this next evolution that you're seeing, you're seeing Steph [Curry] shooting bombs, you're seeing Eric Gordon where he spaces is eight feet behind the line, Brook, you're seeing all kinds of people saying, okay, if you're going to be able to get to me on the line and contest the shot, maybe if I'm six or eight feet behind it I'll have a clean look, a cleaner look, and you've got a longer run to contest.

I forgot your question, but I think that's interesting the way you can see the game going that way. The stress is spacing. The stress is spacing because you're driving into the paint, you've got to close down and help and the ball gets kicked out, and usually you have one or two strides back and now maybe you've got three or four.

Q. Pascal [Siakam] spent the last seven games playing against the primary matchup against two of the best defenders in the world. Quite understandably his efficiency has dropped. Would you like to see him doing anything different? Are you happy with what he's doing, and how do you get him maybe cleaner looks other than the corner threes he's just not made?
NICK NURSE: I don't think those are going to get much cleaner, okay. Yeah, and he's got to take those.

Do we want him to do other things? Yeah, I mean, listen, I think he's got to do what he's been doing, first of all, extremely pleased that he's remained aggressive and taking this on, that he's got the ball and he's aggressive and he's going in there. It's just now him getting into situations that -- does he have a high-percentage finish? Is there two people there? Is there a bigger body there that turns it into a lower percentage opportunity, then he's got to get off those.

Because obviously, again, we keep saying that, if two people are on the ball, somebody somewhere has got to be open. That's, again, a fine line, right, of growth. He's garnering that type of attention, to his credit. He's become that good and that effective. And that's just the next step for him to take.

Q. I know you're totally locked into this series, but does a very smart part of your brain say, oh, this experience, it's really going to teach him where he does need to make that growth?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, I mean, a little bit always. I think one of the things he's done this year very quickly, is adjusted and grown and continued to -- I say this, every week he gets a little bit better, and even within a series he'll do it, and I thought one of the things that was interesting was he struggled all year against Orlando, and all of a sudden he comes out and figured out how to play against those guys. I think he'll do the same in this series.

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