OAKLAND—It has always been about the feel and the moment and wilful improvisation for Raptors coach Nick Nurse, and the stage and the circumstances and the stakes these days won’t change that.
He coaches as much by his heart as he does by the numbers, asking his players to do things that are out of the norm, to try something because he feels it might work.
It’s freeing and it’s fun and it’s what he is.
“I guess (Nurse) is a guy that thinks out of the box,” Kawhi Leonard said before the Raptors practised ahead of Game 3 against the Golden State Warriors.