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NBA EASTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: RAPTORS VS. BUCKS

May 22, 2019

Nick Nurse

Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Practice Day, Canada

Q. Any update on how Kawhi is feeling and any concern about his condition?
NICK NURSE: He's feeling good. No concerns at this point. He's good.

Q. I was wondering, I don't know whether you can expect the Bucks to make lineup or rotational adjustments tomorrow, but is it sort of the fun part of the game now, anticipating and seeing, trying to figure out what might happen?
NICK NURSE: Well, it's certainly something we've got to go through. I think we got to kind of throw all the scenarios out there and listen, we kind of throw it out to the staff and ideas before we meet, and just come up with all scenarios. No ideas are bad ones, you know. Just anything you can think of that may happen.

Just so you can talk about supposed contingency plans, you know, and then you've got to, you can try to guess some and have strong advantages and all those kind of things. But most of it's going to come down to reading the game or doing things that really matter anyway.

Q. Speaking of staff, there's a report one of your assistants is up for a job in Memphis. What can you tell us about Adrian Griffin as a guy and a coach?
NICK NURSE: He's outstanding. He's really, really good. He's, first of all, an incredible person and professional. Really well spoken, hard working, organized with a ton of experience. He's seen a lot in his 20 years in the league. He commands the room. His defensive games are impeccable. You know, one of those scenarios for me that I would hate to lose him, but would obviously promote him to the end of the year to let him get his chance because he deserves the.

Q. How are the guys doing today?
NICK NURSE: They are good. You know, we rested this morning. This is our re-energized and resting part of the playoffs for us. Really almost a full day off outside of the travel. Guys got their treatments. A few guys got some shots they needed -- wanted to stay sharp or get their workouts in. But mostly, a recuperation day and we're here in Milwaukee and we're in the hotel and off our feet, and probably will remain so for the rest of the evening.

But no, we're good. We know we've got a difficult challenge ahead of us and a difficult task, and it's going to take everybody's rejuvenated energy and spirit to get the job done.

Q. Last night, Kyle had 18 points in the first half. Was that just a matter of him seeing what was available, and you talked about maybe trying to jump and get him scoring early, given that Kawhi had such a heavy workload the night before.
NICK NURSE: No, I mean, I think you just don't know how people are going to react. I think kind of the main narrative is that Kawhi was super tired and extra minutes and all those kind of things. I think we kind of had that in the back of our minds, but you know, you just don't know how guys are going to react when the ball goes up, their adrenaline kicks up, etc.

I do think Kyle feels like he sees opportunities for himself in these series, and I think Kyle is usually an early, early scorer. He knows leads are precious and he's trying to jump start that. He was humongous last night. We didn't get off to a great start, and I think he automatically changed that by himself.

Q. We're seeing some reports today out of Milwaukee saying that the fans in Milwaukee are not happy with what they are calling Drake's antics, his shoulder rub on you last night. A couple articles saying that they feel he reached a new level of clowndom. We know Drake is super popular in Toronto. What do you think about some of these Milwaukee papers saying fans are sick of his antics? Do you think he brings a real fan energy and spirit to the team? Is it a distraction at all?
NICK NURSE: I mean, it's not a distraction to me. I didn't even know I got the shoulder rub last night until somebody showed me a picture today. I didn't even feel it. I was so locked into the game. Didn't distract me at all.

You know, the fans on whichever team comes out on the wrong side get disappointed about a lot of things, from coaching decisions to refereeing decisions to playing decisions to anything else, which way the wind's blowing sometimes, you know what I mean.

It's just when they lose a couple games, and same with us. We lost a couple and our fan base was upset. It's part of the show.

Q. Do you feel like you learned something new about your team without Kawhi getting to 20 and with Siakam not even getting to double-digits?
NICK NURSE: Well, I just -- I think I kind of knew our team could do that, anyway. We had to play a lot of games without Kawhi, a lot of games without Kyle this year. That's really kind of our system, would be that we create opportunities and everyone's involved and everybody's touching the ball. Everybody's moving and cutting. It's kind of a free-flowing, open system.

It's sometimes harder in the playoffs because of the pressure and the intensity of the defense taking up that, it takes you awhile to get used to that. And the change in the series; I think matchups, it was a good night last night. I think that was one we needed at that particular night. It was great to see the ball moving and sharing and the 32 assists, and a lot of people making the ball move and getting it to the guys who are open and those guys that were open, which were a lot of different people, taking their shot.

Q. How do you feel about Danny Green's performance last night?
NICK NURSE: Danny was good. I think better -- he made a couple shots. I thought he was really styling on the defensive end and on the glass. Played him a little shorter stint. Mainly because Norman is playing so well, Norman Powell, keeping them both fresh, and that's helped us a lot I think in these last couple games.

No, Danny's good. I still think he's got a breakout game in him here coming soon, where he makes five or six 3s in one game maybe, but he was good last night, and he was solid.

Q. Some people have been saying you might have broken the code, the Milwaukee code. Is that how you feel?
NICK NURSE: I don't know about that. I don't think I read too much into that. I understand that, you know, again, each game is kind of its own game. They can come out with a different lineup or different schemes tomorrow and we have to think our way through it.

I think our code is this: If we play with the effort we've put in the last two games, actually three of the four games in the series, we are going to have a really good chance to win. We are going to put ourselves in position to win, and I don't think it's any tricky schemes or fabulous game plans. I think it's our players playing their butts off, really.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the bench. You've been getting contributions from the bench, maybe not necessarily the offensive ones until just lately. How important is it to get those guys going, basically so you don't run the starters sort of into a desperate situation I guess?
NICK NURSE: Well, I think it's important in this series more than anything, because I think, other than Kawhi and maybe a little bit Pascal, it's pretty much equal opportunity after that. There's a lot of opportunities offensively for everybody else that steps on the floor, and a lot of those are being created by Kawhi and Pascal.

I think it's great that they can feel confident enough to step into those shots and take them, and then obviously when the results, they go in, I just think that feeds our energy at the defensive end. It keeps them playing, and it just, I don't know, it seems we're at our best when we're getting contributions or little bits here and there from a lot of different people.

Q. Were you getting concerned about the number of minutes that your starters were having?
NICK NURSE: Not really. I think that was, again, probably one of the narratives after Game 1; that I played everybody too long, you know, and we were too tired and we need more rest and we need more guys to contribute. I thought that game required that. You know, a couple of the other games haven't required it. A double-overtime one did again.

So I guess I would say, yeah, I'd love to play everybody less than 40 minutes, but if the game requires your guys to play 40 or 42, then that's what it's going to be and we have to manage that and again, try to recuperate in between games and get to the next one, you know.

Q. We are wondering, is there any timetable for OG Anunoby and coming back, and also how is Kyle's hand doing?
NICK NURSE: OG does not have a timetable for coming back. He is being more active every day. I think we are getting closer to a point where we're -- you know, unpack is the next step for him. He's moving pretty good, he's shooting, etc., but still a ways away from being able to take hits and contact in the areas that he needs to test out I guess.

And Kyle's hand is not great. You know, he's -- it's hurt and it's sore and it causes him a lot of pain. But he seems to be able to manage it through the game and do what he can do. He's obviously scoring and playing great on top of the other things he always does, and we're really showing a heck of a lot of toughness and again, the spirit that he just wants to be out there and help his team any way he can.

Q. How much discussion has there been among your guys about the opportunity that's in front of them here? Guys are putting it on the line here. Do you think they have a sense of how close they are to doing something pretty special?
NICK NURSE: I think there's been very little. I'm trying to think of things I've heard and I can really only remember Kyle through the Philly series was immediately over, we were in the locker room and he kind of quieted everybody down and said, hey, listen, you know, enjoy this game, but we've still got a ways to go where we're trying to get to, so let's get back here tomorrow and let's get back to work. You know, that kind of mentality.

Other than that, I haven't heard anybody say anything like that, and I think -- I think, like we really need to keep that out of our immediate thought. I mean, we've got to zero in and focus on a tremendous challenge tomorrow night of coming in and winning this game on the road.

And it's such a short-term goal, that that's really all we should be thinking about to the best of our abilities. I know it's not easy to sit here and think, oh my God, we could do it, but I'm certainly not thinking that way.

I don't see any benefit in doing that. You know, we've got to really laser in and focus in on how hard we have to play to beat this team, and how much of a connected effort it will take, a togetherness effort on the road and band together and get a W.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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