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NBA ALL-STAR 2020

February 16, 2020

Nick Nurse

Chicago, Illinois - Team Giannis Postgame

Team LeBron 157 - Team Giannis 155

Q. Coach, can you take us into the final possessions and what went on with the benches. How do you even design defensive plays, which is unusual in the All-Star Game?
NICK NURSE: We had quite a few stoppages in play down the stretch. They had a really good team out there. It's tough to guard, but they were running a couple of actions, and we just kept trying to switch to cover them and make it hard on them down the stretch.

The guys did a good job. They made some good adjustments. I thought we were knuckling down. We were getting some stops. We got a rebound that got batted away and stolen. We got another rebound and kind of turned it over near midcourt again. We were getting some stops and weren't quite getting our opportunities at the other end.

Q. What did you think of the new format? And do you think it's something that should stick around?
NICK NURSE: Well, I think it was really interesting. It was really fun. Each and every quarter was, from a coaching standpoint was really fun. I thought the quarters got really interesting really early in the quarters because the game was moving pretty quick. Not a ton of whistles in the first bit, right? So the thing kind of mattered a little bit.

I think with the cumulative score, even though we were down in the first quarter, we thought we had to keep plugging to keep it close so it doesn't get too far away. Then when we were on the other side of it, we said let's keep increasing our lead and get as big of an advantage going into the fourth.

Then, obviously, the end was amazing. I think everybody in the whole place was on their feet watching each possession, and they were really going at it. I mean, defensively it was hard to get anything -- or offensively it was hard to get anything started. Even first passes were being denied. It felt like the end of a playoff game, which was really cool, I thought.

Q. The NBA launched the maiden BAL, which is the NBA Africa league, this weekend. I want to know what does it mean to you as a coach. Obviously, you have Pascal Siakam on your team. What does it mean to you?
NICK NURSE: Well, I think, first of all, I've been fortunate to coach a lot globally in a lot of different countries and a lot of different situations. I think that's one of the super unique things about basketball and the NBA is how popular we continue to grow all across the world. I think it's a great opportunity again down there. I would imagine you're going to see a lot of players take a lot more interest, get better quickly. You're going to see a lot more talent coming from all these different areas and things like that. So I think the global growth continuing anywhere and everywhere is great for our game.

Q. Nick, you're no stranger to what Giannis can do defensively as an opponent. What did you see from him defensively on your team and that late block on LeBron?
NICK NURSE: I think you obviously see an incredible desire from this guy. Defense always starts with the want to and the desire to make big plays and play really hard, and he was doing that. He was taking all the challenges. He was just trying to make all the plays. He talked to me a couple times out of timeouts. He's like, "I'm going to guard this guy." Give him more freedom to maybe block a shot or get more rebounds or whatever. So he was really into the game.

It's part of his greatness, man, is his competitive desire. He's such a great competitor.

Q. You were here before and assisted in the All-Star Game, but what was it like to be head coach and coaching all these guys? And how receptive were they of your coaching?
NICK NURSE: First of all, it was a tremendous honor to be here. I think the extravaganza was really something for a few days, and then when you get here finally for the game, it's really neat to be a part of.

Those guys were amazing, from the opening moments in the locker room tonight pregame. They really were positive about going out and competing and playing hard. There was a lot of little speeches by players about, let us set the tone. However, don't worry about how they're playing, let's us set the tone and make this is a competitive game. That was going on through halftime and timeouts and all that kind of stuff.

First of all, it's an unbelievable group of guys to coach, and then to have them be that concerned and care about the outcome as much as they did made it a really special occasion for me and my staff.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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