Nick Nurse: Fred VanVleet’s career ‘an incredible story that keeps getting better’

Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse spoke to the media after his team’s overtime win over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday. He discussed his excitement for Fred VanVleet’s all-star nod, Scottie Barnes’ toughness in overtime, and what tight games against top opponents can do for the Raptors’ character.

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Video Transcript

- The five starters played really well, but I thought Boucher's contribution was huge to what you guys did tonight.

NICK NURSE: Yep, that was a little different, probably, than it's been here recently, where he was certainly in the discussion a lot, and then he gets in. Scottie wanted to come out in the OT, got banged their a little bit. And he goes in and makes a play. Right away, he gets his hands on a ball, and he was-- I thought he was awesome all night. Yeah, I was discussing that one quite hard most of the overtime, even end of the game to getting him back in. Yeah.

- I think-- what? He Had 23 more field goal attempts. I know that's a metric that you count heavily on. Is it just the way you guys are out actually running laps?

NICK NURSE: Yeah, well, it's a combination of that. And we needed them tonight. We couldn't-- it was-- what is that? How many offensive? 22 offensive rebounds, right, which is a lot, But there was a lot available, right?

I thought-- I thought one of the things in the first half-- or at the halftime, I told the guys is, man, we're getting it right down there. We got to start finishing similar to what we talked about before the game, right? Just playing through a little bit of those, moving it around, playing through the contact, or whatever it is down there, but we got to finish those. Because we were doing some good things to get it down there.

But just enough, I guess. It was one of those games where you kept hoping you'd get away by 8 or 10 or 6, you know, keep that up there. And then we just couldn't quite do it. And it almost got us, but we kept playing.

- [INAUDIBLE]

NICK NURSE: Well, these are character building, Eric, and we need to build. So as long as we can come out on the right side and learn some things, that's what matters.

- Is there anything more on Scottie or--

NICK NURSE: I did not check yet. I'm not quite sure what happened to him there, Eric. I know he took a pretty hard hit there. And I give him a lot of credit because he was limping up and down. I sent the sub up, and the ball went up and down and up and down and up and down, and he probably made his toughest finish of the year.

He went down in there, and, I mean, that was-- he starts doing that a little more often, I can see another 8 to 10 points in his game, because he really took that down there with assertiveness and used his strength and height and made a really tough basket.

- I know OG hit some big shots down the stretch, but also, had a few really nice passes on that wraparound Scottie bucket, had a bunch of assists. How much do you see that improving?

NICK NURSE: Well, I think the biggest thing, Josh, is he's getting a lot of reps. He's seeing a lot of stuff. I didn't think he was handling it great in the first half. He got a couple tipped. He-- you know, and again, he just-- he's really played great down the stretch for us, both making shots and making decisions, and he did that again.

And I think, again, the most important thing is it's not like he's used to it, you know, yet. He's still-- he's getting the ball a lot. He's getting double teamed a lot. He's-- you know, there's all kinds of things going on that he needs this live action, and he improved, I thought, throughout the game. And that's kind of the point of as many reps as he can get so we can see where to-- what to do with it.

And he-- you know, he-- last two possessions of the game, I think-- maybe it was the overtime. But whatever, anyway he made the wraparound that you talked about. And the next possession, they didn't come. We ran the same play again. We got it to him, and they left him, and he made a great move. He didn't make the shot, but he made a really good move.

And that's, again, that's just like-- that's how it's going to be. It's going to be on again, off again, and you've got to read what's happening in the moment, not, like, pre-- well, meditate what you think is going to happen. You just got to make the read, and stuff's happening fast out there.

- Do you see him--

- Just like last week, they sent that second defender on Pascal, pretty much on the catch. How did you think he handled it tonight?

NICK NURSE: Not bad. I mean, again, I thought-- the biggest thing that we try to tell them on that stuff, Doug, is they got to continue to keep using energy to get the ball safely out. And I think they both started the game, OG and Pascal, both started them with some kind of, oh, here comes the double, and they didn't get up. They didn't-- you know, you got to-- you got to get that thing safely out, and they got some tipped early.

And the other thing is, is some of those spin moves are getting a little close for comfort, too, right? We're spinning, and we're getting them out of there, but we need to get those out a little cleaner or whatever. So again, they're seeing a lot, which is good.

And again, I think our guys, you know-- there's not a whole lot of possessions where we don't come away from there where you think, oh, that was a pretty good shot. I mean, there's some that you say oh, what did we take that shot for. But over how many attempts? 113? There's probably less than 13, right? So we're making some pretty good decisions and playing next-action basketball and finding some guys.

- Did you say anything to Fred when you found out. What was your reaction [INAUDIBLE]?

NICK NURSE: Well, I was changing at the time, and I heard a little cheer in the coaches room, so I assumed that he made it. And then I was doing something else, and he came back in from the warmup. And again, I heard some cheers. I went out gave [INAUDIBLE] to start the game, he knew why I was giving him five, and I talked to him afterwards real quick before we had a little cheer again, before we brought the team together.

So I'm really happy for him, man. I think as you all know sitting here, I think he really, truly deserved it. You know, not only for what he's done this year. I know that's what the award is specifically for, but for historically what he's done on top of that. And I think it's-- man, it's an awesome achievement. I mean, it's an incredible, incredible story that just keeps getting better.

- Yeah, it seemed like he had a knee-on-knee at the end of regulation. Was he just fine to go after that?

NICK NURSE: Yeah, he was-- got hit there. It was knee-on-knee. Thought he was coming out, too, but he said he wanted to stay in. So that was-- again, I think you got to do-- you got to-- you know, some of that stuff hurts immediately, and you can play through it, and then you can get the juices flowing and [INAUDIBLE] through it. So I'm a little-- I'm kind of proud of those guys for playing through some of that stuff instead of sprinting to the locker room, you know what I mean.

- [? Khem ?] only had the five minutes, but, you know, he had a couple of those possessions where you could see what he can do to protect the rim. What you make of that?

NICK NURSE: Well he did a couple things. One, you're right, he made a great vertical play, and that's kind of unique to what he does to our team. And then he came in and got an offensive rebound kick out right away that I think ended up in a 2 pass 3 for somebody, I think it was Freddy, in the end. Or yeah, I think kicked it to Gary, and Gary swung it to Freddy, I think, and he made it. So he impacts the game. I thought he did OK. I'm going to work him back in there and get him-- get him back into his rotation here as quick as we can.

- There are two online questions for you, Coach. Go ahead, [INAUDIBLE].

- Hey, Nick. It's good to see you. This was a very balanced attack that you guys had. Like, I think you had four players that scored at least 20. You had six guys in double figures. Is that just like a sign of the kind of basketball that you want to see the team play, like a very kind of egalitarian style?

NICK NURSE: Well I think that, you know, that's the way it moved around tonight, right? And I think we're capable of most of those guys-- you know, I think we all know that Pascal and Gary and Freddy can go for big numbers at any night, depending on what the matchups and defensive schemes are.

OG's also capable of having big nights, as well. Scottie will sprinkle one in there every now and then, but I think it's good. And I think we moved it to where it needed to be moved tonight, and tonight it was kind of equal opportunity.

- How big of a luxury is that knowing that you have, like, so many weapons at your disposal--

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

NICK NURSE: This is the NBA. You should have five guys out there that can score the ball, right? So I'm glad we're finding where it's going and using what we're doing well. And, you know, if they're going to try to double or run guys at us, we've got to find the open man. And whoever that is needs to step into their shot and take it. So we're getting there. We're getting there.

- Thank you.

NICK NURSE: You're welcome.

- Last question comes from Nicky. Go ahead, Nicky.

- Well, hey, Coach. Really simple question for you. When you talk about character-building games like this, what exactly are you hoping that it's building? What are the characteristics you're looking for?

NICK NURSE: Well, I think that, again, the game-- you know, you think you kind of got the game, and you got to play it through the 48. And, you know, It's-- it's not a lot you can say. Could we have gotten some stops to wrap that thing up. Yeah. They made some tough shots. They got to the line.

Did we-- you know, we took good shots. It wasn't like we turn-- you know, sometimes you're going to go down there, and possessions are going to trade, and you're mak-- playing great defense, and they're making tough shots. And you're playing great offense, and it's not going in. That's kind of what happened to us down the stretch. We've been executing really well.

So, it goes to overtime, and are you demoralized, or are you OK to keep playing? I think a lot of times history would show, the team that doesn't expect to get taken into overtime will come out and get beat in those. And I thought we were ready. I thought they were fine. They didn't show any type of, oh, man, we let this one get away or anything. They were just ready to go out there and play and try to continue to win it. So that's one thing I think I noticed tonight character-wise.

- Is it safe to say you've seen that growth, especially as of late, with these really close games down to the wire?

NICK NURSE: Yeah, I mean, I think these guys-- I think they believe in themselves. I think they think-- they think they're capable of guarding, and I think they're capable of making the right reads on offense. I see a lot of encouragement, a lot of communication defensively when we're trying to do schemes and just digging in, you know.

They're encouraging each other to dig in. We got to get a stop. And don't let him catch, and do this and send it my way and all these kind of things that they're trying to talk out late in games. So that shows-- that shows that they're confident, that they got-- they got a chance to get a stop and get a score.