	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

June 10, 2019

Nick Nurse

Toronto, Ontario - Pregame 5

Q. With reports that Kevin Durant is going to play again, has it changed your day and your preparation in any way?
NICK NURSE: I mean a little bit. The reports have been coming out since Game 1, I think, that he was going to play by Game 3. So we prepared each game, 3, 4 and now 5, so it wasn't like it was a total departure from everything we have been doing.

But, yeah, we put in some clips of him today and walked through some stuff.

Q. How do you try to make this just another game instead of the game you can potentially win the NBA championship?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, I think we have to, right, I think that these games are tough and we realize how hard we have had to play and we have really tried again to make it a focus, even from the beginning of training camp that we weren't going to get super caught up in the results, that those things would take care of themselves and I think that our focus tonight is on doing the work, right.

There's a lot of work to be done. This is a great team, very well coached, and we got to go out and play super hard tonight. We know what we need to do to win and just let everything else take care of itself.

Q. Presuming KD does play, what's the element that he brings that has maybe kept you up a little bit planning, kept you up at night maybe?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, well, he brings everything, right? He first of all, brings an explosive transition game. He'll race up the floor and pull up from across half court, like a couple of their other guys do. So it's another threat in transition you got to get ready for. They have got a package of stuff they run for him. There's a lot of the 3-5 mid-pick-and-rolls, there's the Curry-Durant pick-and-roll, there's a Durant-Curry pick-and-rolls, there's some pin-down plays that he runs where he isos the side of the floor and then there's a post-up game. So that's a lot of stuff.

But we'll, again, a lot of it we're already guarding with other guys that we can say, hey, we're guarding this post-up similar to the way we're guarding this guy's post-up or we can reference things from other series as well, which has been really helpful in this series. Just take it as it comes when the ball goes up.

Q. As a follow-up, do you start Kawhi on him? Would that be the obvious matchup?
NICK NURSE: I think so, but again they have a different starting lineup every night. We don't really get caught up in the matchups, really. Once we get out there and see who is out there, each guy points to one of the guys they're going to take and then we go from there. There's a lot of switching going on and a lot of early subbing from both teams, as well.

So I don't really get caught up in the matchup stuff. I mean, I realize how important it is, you want your best defenders on their best scorers and things, as much as you can, but there is so much switching and so many different coverages and all that stuff you're dealing with, it becomes more than the matchup sometimes.

Q. How does this game compare to Game 7 versus Philly, Game 3 against Milwaukee, when your season might have been on the line? How does the team feel, how do you feel coming into this?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, again, I keep giving you the same answers is that it's critical. It's a critical game, as those were, right. Game 2 against Orlando at home was critical. Game 3 at Orlando was critical. So that's really how it feels. Each game in these playoffs feels like a must-win, a critical game, and that's how we're approaching it.

Q. A follow-up to my question from Game 2, your answer was that you wanted to go out there in Oakland and get one, but you came back with two. One, how does that feel? And two, how are you going to continue to keep up that momentum for tonight's game?
NICK NURSE: Well, I give most of that credit to Kawhi because I said it in the locker room trying to kind of not make it feel so bad that we just lost a home game in the Finals. I was like, all we got to do is go get one, that's maybe not as insurmountable challenge to go out there and get one. And Kawhi said, expletive that, let's go get them both.

Q. More about Kawhi: I know you said matchups aren't the biggest thing, but I'm assuming he'll take some reps against Durant. Does that add more responsibility, and if that, more opportunity for him here?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, I mean, yeah, he'll certainly guard him. One of the big things with Durant is you got to have somebody that can -- well, you don't really have anybody that can look him in the eye, but at least maybe the chest up. You can't get too small on him or he'll shoot over the top of you. So Kawhi's one of our bigger defenders, along with Pascal, Serge would probably guard him, again, that's the biggest thing.

He does it all, but probably the biggest way he hurts you is by shooting over the top of you. Kawhi's size, Pascal, Serge, those guys will need to be on him as much as possible. So he's got to see some contest level.

Q. I know you're focused on what's happening inside the building, I'm just curious if you're made aware of the crowds outside or if you were surprised at the scale and size of what's happening outside the building?
NICK NURSE: It's hard not to be aware of some of it, but again we have done a pretty good job of getting here and getting in the office and shutting the door and watching the film and keeping the guys in and walk through upstairs and things like that. I don't know, I think they have handled it all pretty well. But it remains to be seen. I guess, we got to wait until the ball goes up.

It's good, I think for me, I said this before a number of times, when the ball goes up, you don't really -- there's nothing going on, you're totally focused on what's happening on the court and the 10 players on the court. It's hard enough keeping track of that, let alone all the people in the crowd and all the stuff going on. You don't really sense that much of it, and I feel like when I played it was the same, and even though it was a really long time ago, but I think our guys probably feel the same as well.

Q. Developments have sort of kept us locked in on Golden State's injury situation. Can you give us an assessment of your team's health overall and what sort of restrictions or limitations are involved tonight on anybody?
NICK NURSE: Yeah, no, we're good. Everybody's good. Full of energy, ready to go.

Q. A little bit on that note, update on OG at all? We saw him shooting earlier today.
NICK NURSE: He's ready to go.

Q. So you would expect him to get on the floor?
NICK NURSE: I don't know about that, but he is ready to go. He's been cleared health-wise for the last couple games, but again it just depends. It's situational. We're pretty happy with our rotations here for the last 8, 10, 12 games. But he's ready and he may get out there.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297