Nick Nurse breaks down Raptors’ win over Suns, congratulates Popovich on record

Raptors head coach Nick Nurse was impressed with how his team didn’t crumble in the fourth quarter in a tough game on the road. He spoke about how Fred VanVleet kept Toronto composed, how Gary Trent Jr. benefits from VanVleet’s presence and then congratulated Gregg Popovich on setting the NBA wins record for a head coach.

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Video Transcript

- [INAUDIBLE] exciting game [INAUDIBLE] few things away to finish that one up.

NICK NURSE: Yeah, they did. You know, had a long stretch where things were pretty tough on them, and didn't-- didn't crumble and cave in. I thought Freddy did a great job of-- we saw him many times, you know, telling everybody just keep playing and relax out there. And he did a great job of keeping them composed.

- We knew Gary was going to break out at some point, but what did you see tonight that got him some better looks, or did you think he got better looks?

NICK NURSE: He had some better looks tonight, but he also-- he also got into his-- didn't really matter if they were that great of looks or not situation, creating some space and making some covered shots. He had some really big timely ones there along the baseline.

And then we ran a little [INAUDIBLE] play out of the timeout and he made a 3-ball on that, which was-- those were two huge ones when we were having a tough time in the fourth, obviously, after-- after really rolling through the third scoring wise. We were having a tough time finding buckets and we-- he hit a couple of big ones. Huge game for him.

- You guys have played aggressive defense all year long, even when it hasn't gone your way. The game was tied there and to trap Booker, I think [INAUDIBLE] had two steals. What does it mean to the guys to see that approach work so well?

NICK NURSE: Yeah, I mean, it was-- you know, we did a lot of stuff with him tonight. Played him straight, played a little in 1, a little triangle in 2, and then we got to some blitzing. And-- and we thought the blitzing was the best look we were having there. It just-- just didn't seem like-- I mean, they're a really, really, really good rhythm offensive team. They really got their spacing and their cutting and their timing down to a T. And that-- we gave up some buckets on that. But at least they weren't getting them in rhythm, right?

- What does it say about Khem that he's able to come in after, you know, not the greatest game and really be the second piece of making that work?

NICK NURSE: It says a lot because I think he's, you know, clearly the best guy at doing that for us, right? He's got some experience in it and he-- it's not easy, as you can see. They split and they reject and go the other way. There's a lot of stuff happening out there, and he got-- he got a bunch of good blitzes. And he had to cover a lot of ground a couple of times. Booker took it from left wing all the way around-- you know, trying to get out of the double a couple of times. And Khem just kept running with them.

- Go ahead, Phil.

- Thanks, JQ. I'll start with Mike Canter.

- Hey, Nick. I want to ask you again-- this is about Khem-- I couldn't really hear Eric's question, so I'm hoping I don't repeat it. But did-- I mean, how important was it to get him back in the game when you saw what-- what Bismack and-- and Ayton and McGee were doing?

NICK NURSE: I mean, it was important. I think the main thing-- and Eric asked about the blitzing that he was involved in-- being able to execute, that was a huge part of it. But you know, again, I think that they all, I thought, contributed at that spot just enough, right? Khem was pretty good for a while, Precious had a great few moments in there, Thad had a bucket here or there. You know, there was-- and then it was time to get Khem back in and get him-- get him with the first group.

And just defensively, he was the best option there, with what the coverages we were in. And then he-- on top of that, he got a huge tip-in down there on a missed fast break layup.

- And I just wanted to ask you, on the-- when you have a chance there late in the game, you got a 3-point lead with, I think it was, 8 seconds left, and they've got the ball, do you-- do you consider fouling, or is that too early at that point?

NICK NURSE: I don't think that was the scenario. If it was, we would. I think it was-- I think it was 17.

- Oh, was it that early? OK, I'm sorry.

NICK NURSE: I believe so. We went down-- it was 5 when it was 8 seconds to go. So--

- OK.

NICK NURSE: Yeah, I mean, listen. You do-- I was looking up at the clock at 17, thinking about if they take it down and it starts-- you know, they don't get a quick one off and it gets inside, at about 11, you're going to probably do it for sure. But the main thing is-- well, as you know, not to give up a 3, even though we did. But it was a pretty deep-- it was a pretty deep one, pretty contested. So luckily, it didn't go in.

- All right. Appreciate it. Thanks, Nick.

NICK NURSE: Yep.

- We'll go to Josh.

- Hey Nick, congrats on the win. You had the boxing analogy before the game-- on the ropes and keep coming back for the next round. Not sure you had this fourth quarter in mind, but it was-- is that the sort of thing that you were thinking of, just in terms of this team's resiliency and the type of things you've been through this year?

NICK NURSE: Yeah, I mean, I think that-- I mean, I don't know. I know we had a really hot run there and we got a nice-- I think we got a, what, 15, 16. I expected them to make some huge run. I thought all-- everything started going their way, right? Everything started bouncing their way and-- and I figured, you know, I kept-- I kept looking up and saying, oh jeez, it's down to 4.

But I would say-- I was like, jeez, we're up 4. We're up 4 in this game on the road in the fourth quarter. I'm like-- I'm not-- you know, even when it was tied, I was-- and I was almost fully expecting Booker to make that 3 to put them up 1 with 30 seconds to go. I was getting ready to call timeout out and draw a play, feeling like, you know, we put ourselves with a chance to win. So I don't even know what your question was. I'm just over here talking a little bit, Josh, but I hope that answered some of it.

- It did. I'll also ask about Scottie. As impressive as he's been offensively over the last couple of games, and started up the game that way as well tonight, how much of an impact do you think he made defensively in the last few minutes, the last two or three minutes of the fourth quarter?

NICK NURSE: Well, he had some tough matchups tonight, I thought. You know, they really got some guys that can catch and shoot quick, and if you run at them hard, they can-- they really score it once you force them inside the line. Like Bridges-- you know, he-- man, he comes cruising across that paint, it's like an automatic 2. And I thought that was tough. He's quick and he's-- and he's got some spring at the end of his-- you know, at the end of his jump shot there. But he did get a big rebound. I think Scottie in a big stop late.

But it was good. I mean, listen, he was super aggressive to start tonight, which is the reverse, and that's good. You know, it got us off to a good start, and it's great experience for him to get, you know, 36, 37 minutes in a game like that.

- Thanks, Nick. Safe flight.

NICK NURSE: Thank you.

- We'll go to Aaron.

- Hey, Nick. What does it do for you guys to have Gary-- you know, he's not going to score 42 every night, but just to have that threat on the court out there, when he's playing well?

NICK NURSE: Well, I think-- you know, I know it's a fairly small sample size here, but he didn't get a whole lot going with Freddy off the floor there for a few games, right? And I just think that there's a concentrated-- you know, there's-- there's better spacing. There's a lot of concentration on Fred. There's-- there's a chance for him to play in a lot more spa-- that's what I see tonight, versus some of those games where he wasn't scoring very well.

Just, you know, I thought-- I thought Pascal was willing to shoot the 3 a little bit as well, and it just seemed like there was better spacing for Gary to operate tonight.

- And on a different topic, we've seen you guys play down to some opponents occasionally this year, but it seems like whenever you have a tough team-- you did it earlier in the year against Phoenix-- you guys bring your best against the best. What does that say about this group?

NICK NURSE: Well, I mean, I hope it says that we got to play every night. We also know we can compete every night. I've been telling you guys that for about five games in, it really doesn't matter who we play. We got-- we got to go play and we've got to play well, and if we do, we're going to have a chance on any night. That's about it.

- Thanks, Nick. Safe travels.

- Last one goes to Vivek.

NICK NURSE: OK.

- Hey, Nick. Just wondering, the end of the first half when Fred was off the floor, was that just managing his body a little bit? Was that just liking the group that you had out there?

NICK NURSE: Yeah, I think it was just managing the minutes a little bit, trying to buy some for the second half. And it seemed to be going OK and-- and we probably stole a few minutes that we couldn't steal any in the fourth, that's for sure. So it was a good thing-- good thing we did that, I think.

- And then I'm probably overthinking it here, but Pascal-- you know, he got his shot off with about 35 seconds left when it was a 1-point game. Are you guys ever thinking, with that 1-point scenario there, about the two for one, or is it just get the best shot?

NICK NURSE: Well, "ever" is pretty strong. I would say we probably are looking for the best shot, but we would consider a two for one there. Sometimes. I mean, not-- not as heavily as we would in the first three quarters, where we'd do it for sure. Almost no matter what, you got to try to get a two for one up. Getting something up's better than nothing, if you get two possessions. But late, late you're probably looking more for the best shot.

- Thank you, Nick. Have a safe flight.

NICK NURSE: OK. Just like to say congrats to Coach Pop. I heard he-- he got the record, and that's a-- phew, that's a doozy. I don't know-- I don't know if that one will go down for-- if it'll go down, it will be a long time. So congrats, Pop. Thanks, everybody.