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Nick Nurse, Raptors coaching staff to coach Team Giannis at 2020 NBA All-Star Game

First a championship; now an All-Star Selection. Nick Nurse has had a pretty decent first two seasons as a head coach.

After dismantling the Detroit Pistons in dominant fashion tonight en route to a 105-92 victory, the Toronto Raptors maintained their stranglehold over the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference and, therefore, officially punched their head coach’s ticket to the NBA All-Star game.

It’s the first such nod of Nurse’s career.

Of course, this news comes under some relatively unique circumstances.

Typically, the coaching staff of each conference’s top-seeded team are automatically selected to the All-Star Game each year. The Eastern Conference representative last season, however, was Mike Budenholzer & co. of the Milwaukee Bucks, who just so happen to occupy the #1 seed once again. And given how coaching staffs cannot be selected to the All-Star Game in consecutive seasons, that leaves the honours this year to fall to the #2 seed.

Enter; Nick Nurse.

With the Raptors sitting at an impressive 35-14 record despite losing Kawhi Leonard to free agency over the summer and suffering through a slew of injuries to this point in the season, this is an undoubtedly deserving honour for one of the premier coaching staffs in the entire NBA. Not to mention, it sure won’t hurt for Nurse to get some one-on-one time with Giannis Antetokounmpo ahead of 2021.

The NBA All-Star Game kicks off on February 16th.

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