Nick Nurse shares emotional moment after Game 3 win

The trained eye likely noticed Nick Nurse at the very end of Game 3, hunched over on the Toronto Raptors bench, hands clasped together in front of him, looking far sadder than what most would expect from a coach that just brought his team within two wins of their first NBA title.

It was just a short moment, but inside the mind of coach Nurse, a heavy and emotional one.

Nurse eventually composed himself and made his way to the locker room with his team to celebrate the win, but on the biggest stage of his career, he was taking a moment to think about his mother.

Tuesday would have been the 95th birthday of Nurse’s mother, Marcella, who passed away in December. The youngest of nine kids, Nurse took the moment after the win to think of her, and how far he had come.

“She passed right in the middle of the season on that west coast road trip, and she had said that she was glad she lived long enough to see me become a head coach and hoped she’d see me win a championship, but if she didn’t she would be watching anyway,” Nurse shared with the Toronto Star after the Game 3 win.

For a team that stakes its reputation on being stoic and composed in the face of adversity, it served as a quick glance at the well of emotions below the surface as the team comes closer to achieving their ultimate goal.

The Raptors are now two wins away from the championship, and coach Nurse has someone special with him watching the journey.

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