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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS VS. BUCKS

May 17, 2019

Nick Nurse

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Postgame 2

Bucks - 125, Raptors - 103

Q. A disappointing night in general, but how disappointing was it to come out and just have them set the tone with that 9-0? When you start playing uphill against that team it's not really a recipe for success.
NICK NURSE: Yeah, it wasn't. You got your coverages and your things you're going to do at the beginning, and we just missed them early. We were just a step too slow on just about everything. I talked before the game about how important shot-contesting was. I just didn't think we settled in with some space, and we gave them confidence early. You just can't do that. We didn't do either thing very well tonight. We didn't do much well tonight, obviously, the way the game went.

Q. Nick, before Game 1 you mentioned Ersan Ilyasova as a guy that can make winning plays. How big of an impact did he have on the game?
NICK NURSE: I thought he was very good. He stepped up and made a bunch of shots. He took a couple charges. But he wasn't the only one off the bench. We kind of clawed back from the bad start; we got to 14-9 right away. And then those guys came in and really took off. Yeah, 17 [points for Ilyasova], 13 [for George Hill], 14 [for Malcolm Brogdon], that's 44 [points] off the bench. That's pretty good. I thought Brogdon had a great start to his game. And obviously we weren't nearly as good on Giannis tonight. He was in the paint with a little too much force more than we'd like tonight.

Q. What are you hoping that a change of scenery can do based on how this result came?
NICK NURSE: We didn't play very well tonight, and we did play pretty well in Game 1.

They've done what they're supposed to do and protect their home court, and we've got to go now do the same and get ourselves back in the series.

But it's got to be more of an effort like Game 1 than tonight because, again, we were just uphill for almost three quarters tonight.

Q. Speaking of that start where you guys have always seemed to answer calls and respond with effort, were you surprised or mystified why it didn't seem to be there from the start tonight?
NICK NURSE: I'm always surprised when you don't start the game a little bit better, especially when you know that they're at home and they're going to come out with an extra pep in their step. We talk about that a lot, like hey, we've got to really focus on getting our defense set up at the start because it's going to be extra fast. They're going to be coming extra fast with the home court and the excitement and the energy that everybody has to start the game. We just didn't do a good enough job of getting ourselves set up. We've got to look at it, but what it felt like to me and what I was telling them in the timeouts is we've got to press up more on the shooters.

I don't know, I can think of one: We went zone one time and got a stop and we came down the next time and it was late in the clock, and [Nikola] Mirotic had one in the corner and Marc [Gasol] went out and contested him. It was a good contest, but it wasn't a full-out contest. We know the level of contest is going to affect these shots or not, and if you don't go with everything you've got and jump high and really try to let them know you're right pressed up against them, then the chances of them going in are pretty good.

Not picking on Marc. I thought there were several around the court where we were kind of there, but it just wasn't enough. I was continually asking us to press up harder into bodies and make them bounce and do something else other than just shoot over a slightly contested three.

Q. I was wondering in the third quarter you guys cut it to 13 near the end, you had a little momentum there. Is there anything particularly in that stretch or anything you saw tonight that you liked that you can take with you going into Game 3?
NICK NURSE: Well, yeah. I think, again, going back to some keys to our series, we've got to continue to work the offense for shots. And again, I sound like a broken record up here, but we had our share of wide-open shots that could have at least stymied a little bit of the breakout in the score. But we've got to make sure we continue to work for them.

We just weren't quite physical enough. We weren't getting our screens set good enough. We weren't getting them off their screens good enough as well. We're going to have to be better or they're just going to look bigger and stronger than we are, and I don't necessarily think that's the case. We've got to play a little tougher.

Q. Marc got a bunch of shots early, Danny got a bunch. Those are guys you kind of wanted to get going. Did that just happen or was that a concerted effort to get them touches, and how difficult is it when those guys aren't going for you?
NICK NURSE: Well, it made it pretty difficult. Some of that's designed and some of it's happening, again, the way they're playing, especially with Marc. You know they're sending [Brook] Lopez to the paint or to the rim all the time, so Marc is going to have his share of opportunities just because that's the way the spacing lines up. I don't know, I feel bad for him. Most of those went in and out. It's like, he's a really good player, a really good scorer. He was taking good shots and just couldn't buy one.

I even said it the first timeout. I think he was about 1 for 5 or 6 at the first timeout, and I said, let's go to him and get him a bucket and maybe he can get him see one go in. Again, they were good shots. But to answer your question, it makes it tough because we're taking what's there with guys that -- Danny [Green] is a great shooter and Marc is a scorer and those are guys that we need to step in and play. And they will.

Q. A week ago Brad Stevens sat in that seat and said what makes playing the Bucks so hard is that every possession both offense and defense they make you work. I'm curious what you think of that assessment through two games and how hard it can be if you do cut it to 13 and you know they're still going to give it to you that next possession?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, it is difficult. We got that thing to 13, and I think we had a timeout even and our ball, and Kyle [Lowry] made a hard-driving layup. I think that he thought he got knocked to the side and threw it off the side of the backboard. And then the next time down, Kawhi got in a little tussle. But again, if you're not going to get a good shot or turn it over, they're going to put some pressure on you, and I think they took it right to 19. I think it might have been two possessions of back-to-back threes or something or maybe an and-one or something.

You do a lot of work to cut that thing in there and it's kind of gone in a couple possessions. They do a good job of playing pace basketball and aggressive style of play both ends.

Q. Can you talk about Norm Powell's performance tonight, you get 25 solid minutes, 6 of 9 from the floor, something that you saw tonight?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, it was good to see Norm. I had planned on using him a lot more in the rotation. I think he fits in this series a little more with his speed and strength and athleticism, his ability to take it off the bounce. We're going to need that. It was good to get him going, and I would imagine going forward he'll be a critical part of the series for our rotation.

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