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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

May 30, 2019

Nick Nurse

Toronto, Ontario - Pregame 1

Q. Not knowing how many pre-season games you played, this is the 101st game that counts this year. Will your pregame remarks before this one differ much from the first 100 at all or will there be a little bit of a special feel to this one or are you going to try to keep it somewhat normal?
NICK NURSE: Well, being the first game of the series, it seems like you got to have a little bit more of your specific instructions in going through, I mean, a lot of the similar things that the Game 1's of each series have entailed. I mean, you kind of talk about transition defense and you go through those three or four points that make your transition defense go. So it's probably a little bit longer and I don't say a lot during the regular season, so I've been talking way too much here in the playoffs, but it will be a little bit longer tonight, yeah.

Q. Given the way the success you guys had against Giannis, particularly in transition, the way you loaded up on him, are there comparisons to Draymond? And would you consider defending Draymond with Kawhi the way you did at the point of attack?
NICK NURSE: Obviously Draymond Green has been playing really fast in transition, right, he's snapping the ball off the rim and he's putting his head down and going a hundred miles an hour, similar to Giannis, and he's really making a lot of plays and really playing -- making them play at a really fast pace. They like to play fast anyway, right.

I think, again, like it was, I always think that those guys that are bringing the ball up the floor fast, it's a more-than-one-person job. It's a team wall-building to try to slow it down. But, yeah, I would assume that Kawhi on Draymond Green becomes a matchup that we use at some point in the game tonight, in the series whatever. I think there's going to be a lot of matchup things going on. I've kind of alluded to that with all the switching that both teams do.

Q. Is there an update on OG (Anunoby)?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, he's not dressing tonight. He's been made inactive. It does look like we may have him for Sunday to at least dress and, well, be active and who knows then. It's a few days away and he'll probably improve between now and then, and we'll see how game ready he will be, but the plan as of now is to dress him on Sunday, activate him.

Q. With DeMarcus Cousins being active can you kind of talk about some of the problems that he presents for your team?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, Cousins is a couple things, right: He's big around the block, he's a guy they can throw it into down there and possibly force you into some double teams and that's always exposing some other things if you have to double team somebody. He's also a really passer. They drop him out there at the top of the key, trailing in the break, and they hit him and guys start cutting and he can find them. So it presents us a few problems. We have tried to prepare our guys for those and hopefully come up with some coverages that minimize his effectiveness.

Q. Three of your guys, Norman, Pascal, Fred, have never been at a stage like this. Will you have to calm them down a little bit, do you suspect or will their teammates be able to do that?
NICK NURSE: I'm not too worried about Freddie. Freddie's got kind of ice water in his veins type of guy. He's took a mid-major school to the Final Four. He took a mid-major school to 35-0. He's kind of playing better as this thing's going on.

I think Pascal it will be interesting. I would imagine that they're going to consider him our number two option and they're going to go at him and game plan for him, and try to play him physical at the start. And then there's some of the teams that have used their bigs to guard him and dropped off him to make things indecisive for him, etc. I'm not that worried about him. I think he plays with tremendous energy and that's what this series is going to need.

And Norman, yeah, Norman, let's see, I think Norman's had a great series obviously against Milwaukee. He really fit in that series. I wasn't even hardly -- we weren't hardly using him against Philly, with their size. At this stage of the series I'm going to throw at least eight or nine, maybe 10 guys out there and we'll see who takes to this series and who looks good and we'll see what this series calls for.

Q. When Alfonzo McKinnie was playing with you guys in the G League team what did he show you at that part and what have you seen from afar with his development in Golden State?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, the first thing that Alfonzo does is he rebounds. He's rebounded his whole life. They always say, what translates to the NBA? And one of the things they say is rebounding, and he's rebounded his whole life, and he just has an incredible knack for rebounding the basketball, especially on the offensive end.

It's great to have him back here. I spent a lot of time with him in the summers in Chicago, and I'm really, really happy for him. Really, really proud of him.

Q. When it comes to pace of the game, how much is getting into the bonus part of the strategy and how controllable is something like that in terms of how you do things offensively?
NICK NURSE: Well, I would love to get in the bonus as soon as we can after the ball goes up. I think we're going to need to try to attack the rim, we're going to need to try to get there off the bounce. I hope we can draw some fouls and get to the line. And I think what you're alluding to is that will stop some of the nonstop back and forth, because we're stopping to shoot free throws, and let it give us a chance to get our defense set or make subs or change matchups or whatever we can do while there's stoppage in play.

I would say that's probably a pretty big key to this series is if we can get to the free-throw line some.

Q. Watching Kawhi the way he goes about his business so stone-faced, so quiet, so enigmatic, can you describe how he can be such a killer and yet be so completely Zen and stone-faced without pumping himself up the way so many of the superstars do in this league.
NICK NURSE: I'm not sure I can describe it. I think that I've said this a lot is if you were teaching your kid, this is how you play sports, you would tell him, don't get too high, don't get too low, compete to win, care about winning, don't let your emotions get the best of you, you know, all those things that he is. And that's the thought that keeps running through my head is that he is just steady, he's always thinking about the play, the next play and how does it affect how we can win that possession, which will enable us to win the game, and I think it's an unbelievable mindset. Very strong. Very strong mindset.

Q. Piggybacking a little bit on that last question with regards to some of the younger guys and this is their first go round but I'm curious for you personally, as this will be your first NBA Finals game, and what was the process like overnight? Did you sleep at all and what emotions are you feeling right now in anticipation for your own NBA Finals debut?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, first and foremost, I'm really excited to get in there and compete, right. We were playing every other day there for about, I don't know, 18 days and it's like you're in a battle, you're on a plane, you're watching tape, the ball's going up again and you're back into battle. And these four days off kind of get you itching for that again a little bit. And I think that's been the most enjoyable part for me is to watch our guys embrace the challenges of the games, really compete, make good adjustments, change of play, make great late-game decisions. And again, just play really tough. That's been like the thing I've been kind of waiting for is to get out there and compete again a little bit.

As far as the other stuff, as big as it seems or is, it doesn't feel all that much different than the other night getting ready to play in a huge game at home against, a Game 6 at home that you really needed and all these games have seemed very critical - when you're down 2-1, you better win the next one, or when you're down 0-1, or you're going to Game 6, even though you're up 3-2, you don't want to go back to Milwaukee. So they have all seemed critical as does this one, as will the next one probably.

So I think it will be fun to be out there today.

Q. You've been all over the world. You've been in a variety of different leagues and contexts. I'm wondering what about Toronto has struck you as particularly special. Maybe the relationship between the team and the city, feels like it's sort of having a moment, this being the first time that the Raptors have been NBA Finals. What about this place in the relationship with the fans that's struck you as particularly special?
NICK NURSE: Well, obviously the city's excited, right, and the fan base and the whole country, really. And that's neat. That's a neat feeling. I think there's some real like heartfelt pride, for real, you know, and that's kind of cool, but all the other places I've been and have been a little bit smaller markets than this, they were pretty excited in Des Moines, Iowa when we were playing in the championship of the D-League Finals. I know that sounds funny. In fact, I was trying to tell Kawhi that the other day, and he's like, I'm not listening. I had to show him some pictures of 14,000 people actually showing up for a D-League Finals game. And I think all the cities, there were on championship runs or whatever, they get excited. But this is a big city and a first time, and I think the first time always makes it seem like there's a little more energy.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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