Nick Nurse on Yuta Watanabe’s dunk: ‘They’ll be playing that one in Japan’

Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse spoke after Monday’s blowout victory over the Brooklyn Nets. He praised Scottie Barnes for his excellent game, and gave credit to Malachi Flynn for showing good basketball IQ and mental toughness. He also commented on Yuta Watanabe’s poster dunk.

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Video Transcript

- --plays while Scottie hit a 11 in a row [INAUDIBLE].

NICK NURSE: I don't think we were in any form tonight. We played really good, really like that. Seeing that aggressiveness like that was good. Great rebounding night for him using his size. But I think that all those guys came out with tremendous energy.

Even Khem was on the glass. I know he got in early foul trouble, but he was making physical plays out there. So it was a good-- good energy, physicality night for our guys, Scottie included.

- Even before tonight, Malachi had been [INAUDIBLE]. What have you wanted to see out of him and obviously [INAUDIBLE]?

NICK NURSE: Yeah. He played great. I mean, I think that in the last few-- I mean, it's like-- I think it's important, like even though sometimes those minutes are strange minutes for those guys-- even like I say that with Yuta. He's gotten just a little bit of garbage time. But he's-- you know, and that's why we went with him early in the game too earlier.

But yeah. Malachi just, you know, kept his head up, kept his head in it. And when he's had any opportunities, whether it's first half, second half, garbage, whatever, he's played with what I just consider some IQ, some toughness, some organization. And that's what kind of led us to that decision tonight.

- Do you see him making progress in sort of the things that you want to see--

NICK NURSE: 100%

- --in terms of, you know, whether it's playing with pace or--

NICK NURSE: Yeah. He's getting-- he's getting up and into the ball defensively. He's becoming a better reader of the defensive rebounding situation, helping there. He's getting it into the paint on offense, right? And he's getting it to the front of the rim with some layups, which is really good.

You know, and he's doing it quickly. Like, those are good fast explosive moves that he's making. And we need that. Because, you know, they get-- you know, if they're going to sit on a roller or sit on our shooters or whatever, we need that ball handler to make them pay for that, you know.

Then if they don't, then other stuff will open up. But I thought they did a pretty good job of reading that stuff.

- I just was going to ask quickly, in all your coaching years, when you have guys that are kind of in and out of the lineup, do you think it's harder in the point guard position, just because he is handling the ball, you know, as opposed to off-the-ball positions?

NICK NURSE: Yeah. Probably. There's a lot more responsibility there, for sure. But I was pretty confident going in there that he'd run the team well, right? Because I think he's just been doing that. And that-- that was good.

He got us organized. He got off the ball. He got up the floor quickly, you know, all those kind of things that I think got the ball moving early, which, you know, that's just being a good leader out there and a good point guard.

- [INAUDIBLE] points in the first half. But you know, even [INAUDIBLE] get a big block [INAUDIBLE]. What did you think of how he played throughout the whole game, even when [INAUDIBLE]?

NICK NURSE: No. His-- you know, not unlike a lot of our guys tonight compared to the last games off the break, he just was-- the focus was there. The energy was there. He was playing both-- you know, he's playing both ends. He was-- he was just making plays, right, or trying to make plays. And he just kept ending up in the right place at the right time because of that.

You know, constantly on the glass, and he's getting a bunch of tip-ins. Constantly protecting the rim, he's going to put himself in position to help and block a shot. So just-- just great focus awareness and energy.

- OK. Justine, we'll go over to you. If we could just keep it to one question because of the number of hands this evening. Thank you.

- Thanks, Bill. Also, too, I'm not sure if everyone heard that just because it was little fuzzy. So if you could just keep it to one question please, go ahead Doug Smith.

DOUG SMITH: Hey, Nick. How are you, sir?

NICK NURSE: Doing good, Doug.

DOUG SMITH: Good. You talked about the quick start. You came out and kind of pressed and scrambled the game a little bit. Was that to get your guys going and get the energy up real fast?

NICK NURSE: Yeah. I just think that-- again, like, you could see we were kind of ready and energetic. So I thought I would take advantage-- I mean, listen. On the jump ball, Scottie made a play on the jump ball.

DOUG SMITH: Yeah.

NICK NURSE: Right. So jumped them and surprised them. And automatically, I just said, well, let's-- let's stay up, everybody, and let's-- let's get up. And we created another turnover early off the pressure. So yeah. It did. They jumpstarted themselves, but I just was kind of putting a little-- keep making sure it would keep going, I guess, by calling some of that stuff.

DOUG SMITH: Great. Thanks so much, Nick. Safe trip.

NICK NURSE: Thanks Doug. Yep. See you tomorrow.

DOUG SMITH: Yep.

- And next we have Josh Lewenberg.

JOSH LEWENBERG: Hey, Nick. I'll ask you about Precious. Obviously, he's playing really well in a lot of facets. But seems like one of the areas of improvement is around the rim. Seems to be more under control when he's putting the ball on the floor. Are you seeing anything different from him or you think it's just a matter of the game slowing down?

NICK NURSE: No. He's-- he's making really, really aggressive/composed moves, right? I think that you can kind of tell where it's going right now. And before, maybe you couldn't tell what was going to happen at the end of those things.

But he's getting to some really good spots, and he's-- he's doing it with some force and athleticism and strength. And he's-- you're right. He's slowing down. But I always say that's just a little bit of composure that he's showing and getting it-- getting it to better spots.

JOSH LEWENBERG: Thanks, Nick. See you tomorrow.

NICK NURSE: You're welcome. Yup.

- And next we have Ryan Wolstat.

RYAN WOLSTAT: Hey, Nick.

NICK NURSE: Hey, Ryan.

RYAN WOLSTAT: Question for you about Thad. Are you surprised how quickly he's sort of picked everything up? I know he's a veteran but just how he's making an impact so quickly? Another good game obviously tonight.

NICK NURSE: Yeah. I mean, listen. He's learned a little bit here over this few games that he's had. And you know, one of the things he learned from last game is we kicked it out to him for a bunch of rhythm 3's, and he didn't take any of them. And you know, like, he's a decent shooter.

And I just told him. I'm like, listen, in our deal here, when it's a rhythm 3, you got to pull it. Everybody's expecting you to pull it. And I think that, you know, changed his mindset and his confidence a little bit tonight. And he played-- man, he was really good tonight I thought all over the place.

RYAN WOLSTAT: Yeah. He wasn't shooting too many.

NICK NURSE: Need him to.

RYAN WOLSTAT: I knew that [INAUDIBLE] wasn't shooting too many.

NICK NURSE: In and out.

RYAN WOLSTAT: Thanks, Nick.

NICK NURSE: We'll change that.

- And next we have William Lou from SportsNet.

WILLIAM LOU: Hey, Coach. I see Takeshi's not here. So I'll ask on his behalf. What did you-- were you surprised at all by Yuta's dunk? And what was your reaction to Yuta's play? And just can you speak to his level of preparation for games?

NICK NURSE: Takeshi, it's good to see you. I see you over there Takeshi.

WILLIAM LOU: Oh, he is here. I'm sorry, Takeshi. I'm sorry, man.

NICK NURSE: Well, it was good. Yuta made a-- made a tough play. You know, he's never afraid to go in and make a play-- consequence play at the rim, both sides, right? And he was on the-- he was on the delivering end this time. It was good to see.

WILLIAM LOU: That's right. All right. Thanks, Coach.

NICK NURSE: They'll be playing that one-- they'll be playing that one in Japan, Takeshi. A little bit. Don't you think? Anyway, go ahead. Sorry, Justine.

- No, no, no. That's OK. Next up we have Louis.

- Hey, Coach. I wanted to ask about the Thad, Yuta, and Scottie sort of trio in the second quarter. What are the benefits of having multiple guys who cut really hard all at the same time?

NICK NURSE: Well, listen. They got to kind of play off each other, Louis. And they got to decide who's going to do what sometimes. They both-- you know, they all can space it a bit. They all are probably better cutters than they are spacers. But they can't all cut together.

So there's a little-- it's one of the things we talked about here this morning and walked through a little bit was trying to get organized on who's going to stay out there, who's going to cut, and who's going to do some of that stuff. It's good. I mean, listen, if they can get some chemistry and figure that out a little bit like they did tonight and then obviously they hit a bunch of shots-- you know, they all threw some in, too, right?

Thad, Precious, Chris, Yuta-- you know, all those kind of bigger wings all threw in a couple 3's, too. So kind of doing their secondary [INAUDIBLE] skill very, very high level tonight.

- Thanks, Coach.

NICK NURSE: You're welcome, Louis.

- And last question for you here, Coach. Go ahead Oren.

- Hey, Nick. Congrats on the win. I wanted to get back to Malachi Flynn. Obviously, for point guards, it can take sometimes up to years to kind of find that balance of scoring or playmaking for their teammates. And I want to know kind of where do you think Malachi is on that scale? Is there one way you want him to lean a little bit more than he is right now? Or are you satisfied?

NICK NURSE: Well, listen. He's-- he's really had an uptick, I think, in his confidence and his play here lately. And I always say this. You kind of got to read the game and take what's there. If there-- you know, if you're blasting into the lane and there's some-- there's some space to create for yourself, you've got to do it. And if it closes down, you've got to be able to make the right read.

What I'm happy with is that he's doing, that touching the paint a lot, right? I just think that good things are going to happen. And he's doing it with some explosiveness. I mean, like, he's in there quick and fast and deep in the paint. And that usually is going to, you know, cause some problems, especially if you got any kind of finishing game at all, which he's-- again, he's blasting through there a little bit.

I mean, he's going to get some different coverages and different looks depending on who we're playing and all those kind of things. And then he'll need to make his progressional reads.

- Thanks. See you tomorrow.