Nick Nurse on what went wrong for Raptors vs. Kings

Raptors coach Nick Nurse discusses the final play, areas where Toronto was unable to capitalize and the team's defensive performance.

Video Transcript

- The other night in Orlando, you looked down the box score, a lot of their guys had made threes. And again, a lot of their guys tonight made threes on you. What are you seeing in those looks that the opponents are getting, as opposed to the ones you're getting?

NICK NURSE: Well, we didn't do a very good job for a lot of the second quarter on from keeping the ball in front of us, right? So there was a lot of paint touches by them and then kick outs. There's a lot of transition happening as well, when they were throwing ahead and getting some quick looks early. But just probably not guarding the ball was probably the chain reaction that was starting most of that, yeah.

- And the last shot for Fred, even though his 3-point shooting, it's been-- the numbers are undeniable. But that was a pretty good look for him and the kind of play you want to get, right?

NICK NURSE: Yeah. I mean, it was the design. It was-- as you know, it's tough. We kind of changed the formation a little bit. But I think we're going to take that with needing a three and not very much time to get one. It just didn't go in.

- Is that the guy you want taking that shot because of just his track record throughout his career?

NICK NURSE: Yeah. I mean, I think at that point of the game, what is he, 2 for 7, right? He's got a 39-point game going, et cetera. I think he's probably the hottest guy out there. So creating that look for him, good job by our guys to do that. And live with the result.

- [INAUDIBLE] offensive rebounded tonight, which is a rarity for you guys. What did they do to keep you off the glass?

NICK NURSE: Yeah, we didn't rebound either end very good tonight, which was one of the other keys to the game, I think. I don't know how many there were, where they had the offensive rebound and spun around and kicked it out to a wide open faced up three. You

Know, it's hard to get re-matched up on an offensive rebound. We do it a lot, right? And so that was a really big-- we were having a really hard time with that. And I thought the times where we did play good defense and make them miss, we were giving them too many second chance opportunities.

And then a lot of those were threes as well. I don't-- it just seemed like probably six of those tonight, maybe, in the course of the game, where they got an offensive rebound, kicked it back out, and hit a three. And that's-- you can stop that. You can stop that 3-point shot if you can rebound it, right?

- Fred's numbers getting into the paint traditionally have not been very good. But it's something he has seemed to have changed lately. What are you noticing-- how has he become, I guess, pretty good at getting there, scoring there?

NICK NURSE: Yeah. I mean he's been pretty shifty on changing directions or starting one way and going the other at the start of his drives. Which is getting him past his defender or past the pick and roll defender.

That's probably the main thing. He's just been pretty determined. He's getting some in the open floor as well. It's good to see, because when he's usually getting there and shooting scoring layups, he's usually in really good form, which is what he was doing tonight. Getting all the way in there and finishing layups and getting to the free throw line.

- I think this is the second year where you guys had forced more turnovers but lost the fastbreak battle by quite a bit. What are you seeing with kind of lack of execution on the [INAUDIBLE]?

NICK NURSE: Well, sometimes we're giving it right back. We had a couple of big ones tonight where we stole the ball and gave it right back, right? In the back court. Which I think that's just probably on us of being a little careless, right? Trying to do something that maybe isn't there. When we got the steal, it's probably-- up the floor's the play a little more.

Or just hang on to it, right? You don't want to give it right back. And those are big momentum plays, when I think there was one late where we stole the ball and gave it right back to him, and then they got to the free throw line immediately after that, right? That was a really big play. So that's one thing.

And then the rest. I mean, I think that we have been a little below average in our passing and catching, right, and maybe a little below average in our finishing. If we do make the right choice and do a good one. We've missed a couple at the rim, missed a couple of dunks, things like that.