There is method to Nick Nurse’s madness, always a longer term to be considered on the nights the Raptors head coach gets at his experimental best.
Run Fred VanVleet all over the court double-teaming James Harden and watch the Raptors guard try to recover to contest corner three-pointers? That’s great for one night in December, and maybe it’ll come in handy in some game against some hot shooter in April.
Play a box-and-one defence some night now? Sure, because maybe he’ll have to use it again in six weeks.
Triangle and two? Same thing. Great to use now so the coach knows whether he can use it again sometime in the second half of the NBA season.