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How Raptors coach Nick Nurse conducts a symphony of free-form hoops and jazz

You see it in the way the Raptors play when they are at their very best. It’s a free-flowing style of read-and-react basketball that evokes thoughts of the brilliant creativity of jazz music.

There is structure, but not too much of it. Players are given the chance to improvise when they feel like it, to display individual greatness in the scheme of a team sport, and there’s no denying its success.

And at its heart is the creative mind of coach Nick Nurse, whose approach appears to be an amalgamation of his passion for the game and for music.