With careers that have long been intertwined, from winning the 2011 G League title together in Iowa to reuniting with the Raptors to capture the 2019 NBA Championship, it’s almost been eight years since Nick Nurse and Nate Bjorkgren last found themselves on opposite benches as head coaches, going head-to-head in the 2013 G League Finals. On Sunday, the pair will once again be facing off, this time in the NBA, with Nate Bjorkgren’s Pacers serving as an apt reflection of the Raptors team he left behind. In fact, the uncanny on-court resemblance that the two squads share brings into question exactly where Nurse’s playbook ends and Bjorkgren’s begins, perhaps starting the process of melding together as one during the long hours the former partners in tinkering once spent planning for the future while cooped up in a basement.
How the Pacers are twinning with the Raptors
