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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS VS. BUCKS

May 21, 2019

Nick Nurse

Toronto, Ontario - Postgame 4

Raptors - 120, Bucks - 102

Q. Nick, what part of the production from the three bench guys impressed you the most with the way it impacted the game?
NICK NURSE: First of all, Doug, I always say this, that I want them to come in and hold their own defensively and execute the defensive schemes, and I just didn't see many problems there. You know, they were able to guard a bunch of different people. Two of those three guys, Norm and Serge, ended up on Giannis quite a bit. So chipping in there is good. Serge was great on the glass.

And I thought both Fred and Norm give us -- Fred gives us some play calling, some organization, but they both give us some dribble penetration and then some shooting too. So it's important that those guys are out there to be able to catch the pass off the double-teams, space, and if they rush out to them, they can get back into the paint and make the next play as well.

Q. A lot of it is freedom on the court at the same time, which you hadn't done a lot. How much does that ease the load on guys like Kawhi and Kyle?
NICK NURSE: I think it's probably one of the biggest pluses we've seen here in the last couple games is that we are functioning very well in the minutes Kawhi is not out there, and even tonight with Kyle and Kawhi both not out there. And that's just, again, a little bit more the way we played probably in the regular season. We played, I don't know exactly how many games, 22 or whatever, without both of them. So we have to go function without them sometimes, and it's nice to be able to do that so they can gather.

They're guarding tough players, and they're running the team, and they're playing defense and taking a lot of shots and all that stuff too. So it's nice to be able to let them gather, get their legs, get their breath back, and not have to play the whole game.

Q. Your offense was crisp right from the outset. What do you generally think about the rhythm that this offense played?
NICK NURSE: Obviously, it was really good tonight, right? Any time you look down, and we had 32 assists, you know we're doing a lot right. I think one of the interesting things about it is that Kawhi only has one, right, and he was passing the ball all night. So there must have been -- where's Jonesy at? Jonesy keeps track of the hockey assists. He must have had a lot out, and then the next pass was leading to offense because they were putting multiple people on him.

So I think, again, we just went in with the right mindset of, you know, if you're drawing more than one defender, then you've got to get off it. And our spacing was pretty good. I thought we cut better tonight maybe than we had for a long time. I know we were cutting in and respacing, and, again, if they did get out to us, we'd try to attack right back in and relocate and respace the floor and keep moving the ball.

Q. I think Giannis had two dunks and a layup in the first two or three minutes. What was your message to the team there? Did you guys make an adjustment after that point?
NICK NURSE: I think we always talk about a lot of things, like what's the foundation of our defense? Right at the top of the list is readiness, and I just didn't see us ready. We were kind of back, but we were kind of straight-legged. We weren't showing much length, what we call our gaps were too wide, and he just saw -- he sees those openings, and he's punching right through them, and we just needed to -- we needed to get down and bend our knees and extend our arms and get ready to go and get ready to try to catch the first move and not give him the straight line.

We've got to make him bow out a little bit so he can get to our next help defender.

Q. How is Kawhi doing? He seems to be laboring a bit there. And were you concerned at all you're pushing him too hard?
NICK NURSE: I mean, yeah, we were concerned. I think he's fine. I think he's fine. I think he's -- you know, he logged a lot of minutes. He's certainly tired, like a lot of guys in this series are. You know, he looks okay to me. I think there's a number of guys out there that aren't 100 percent on both sides of the ball.

But, again, he's got tremendous will. He's got tremendous desire, and there's one time I was trying to give him an extended rest there, and he didn't really want it. So he must be okay.

Q. We talked before the game about offensive rebounding and the risk/reward benefit. How important and impressive was Serge in that area?
NICK NURSE: Well, I said before the game, and even in the Philly series, we were trying to figure out a way for Serge to impact the series. It took him until about Game 4 in that series where we decided to go big. I hadn't loved the big lineup in this series, but when they go a little smaller -- I mean, they're hardly ever small, but when they take Lopez out, they go to a little bit smaller-type lineup, and that's when Serge enters the game.

I think he just was determined. And we talked about it before the game. We said, Listen, our transition defense has got to be great. We think, if we get him in the half-court, we can guard him. And I said, make really good decisions. If you're going to go in there flying in there, you'd better have a good chance to get your hands on it or at least tip it to keep it live; and if you don't, you've got to get into your sprint back.

So I think Serge was determined to get in there and fight for some position, and he looked really big and bouncy tonight and strong, and he got his hands on a bunch of them.

Q. Marc was really hard on himself after Game 2. He said he sort of felt like the offense -- his offense had impacted his defense. What did you see from him the last two games, and what's -- you know, his struggles may be overstated a bit because the shots just weren't falling.
NICK NURSE: You know, a little bit. A lot of game, we always talk about that, for some reason they didn't go in. Even that 1-for-9 that night he had, I think six of those went in and out.

But, again, give him a lot of credit. I went and talked to him the next day, and it was like -- I sensed nothing from him other than he told everyone to have a great game. It wasn't like a soul-searching -- I mean, I didn't have to do a whole lot. I kind of told him. I said, listen, you are a great player, because my definition of a great player is you make all the other people around you better, and there's nobody else I'd rather go out there with than you. And he said, I'm going to play great the next game.

So his confidence didn't waver. He's been around a long time. He knows he can play and impact this game and impact this series in a big fashion.

Q. Last series felt like your bench got shorter as the series went on. What's it do for you that the coach can go now into Game 5 to Game 7 knowing that your bench is playing better?
NICK NURSE: Again, I think there's some speed we need there with Norman. There's some athleticism we need there with Serge. And there's some ball handling and running the club with Fred that we need from those guys, and all the other stuff that's happening -- they're scoring, they're shooting it a little better, Serge is on the glass -- it's really them playing up to their capabilities.

And it's just -- again, it's just a different series, and it's been really interesting for me to see how things change so much from series to series.

One minute you say, oh, man, our big lineup is the answer, and then maybe a couple, seven days later, it's not. It's the smaller lineup or some faster guys out there that's the answer. That's been interesting to see.

But, again, each game is its own entity. Let's see if those guys and all of those -- if we can go do it in Milwaukee. We need to take this challenge of playing in a hostile environment, right? We're going into a tough, loud place to play, and let's see if those guys can bring that same pop and focus, determination on the road.

Q. Nick, just touching on Fred, did you have any kind of heart-to-heart with him? His shooting slump has been happening in the postseason. He obviously contributed in other ways. To have him break out a little bit, did you have any role in that or any conversations about that?
NICK NURSE: Not really, Michael. I might have been the last guy to know he went 1 for whatever he went the other night. I was so excited that, we had Kyle fouled out with six minutes to go and we played double overtime, and I thought he ran the team great. I didn't even know -- I kind of hear a few things, the 2 for 20, and I was like, geez, I didn't even know he was 1 for 12 because I was so excited he stepped up and ran the team and got us a "W." That's really his primary job.

We trust him to take open shots. We know he's kind of a clutch shot maker as well. The only one that surprised me the other night is when we were up four with a minute to go and he had that wide-open three, and I'm like that's ball game because he always makes that one. But it didn't go. It wasn't his night for that. But he really doesn't let much bother him either.

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