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NBA FINALS: WARRIORS VS. RAPTORS

June 10, 2019

Nick Nurse

Toronto, Ontario - Postgame 5

Golden State - 106, Toronto - 105

Q. What was the moment like for you and for your team when Kevin Durant went down, was injured and was helped off the court?
NICK NURSE: Well, for me I was -- I really felt for him, right, I know he was probably not a hundred percent and he gave it a shot tonight, right, and just made kind of a move on his own and he went down kind of on his own, I think, without a collision or landing on something, so you knew it was probably not good.

But the moment for me is, I mean, I love KD. I love watching him play and I -- when anybody goes down you're saddened by it, but when one of the great players like that goes down, it's almost shocking.

Q. Seemed like after that the next few minutes execution waned on both sides, the crowd quieted down, how would you describe the aura in the arena for the next five, ten minutes after the injury?
NICK NURSE: Well, again, I don't get a lot of that aura but I did get some reaction from guys on our bench, and some of the guys on our bench were really shook up. And I even know at halftime when they came out and I don't know what the official word is, but somebody on the bench said he tore something. And I know Kyle was on the bench sitting there and was shook up by that, and both Klay and Steph stopped and talked to Kyle there at halftime on our bench about it.

So I think it's always a little eerie feeling for everybody when something like that happens on a big stage like this.

Q. Two questions: One, on the last play, Kyle's shot there in the corner, just coming out of the timeout is that kind of the shot you were hoping to get, kind of staggered out of the top of the key? And then a broader question, we saw the team walking out of Game 4 all business, not really celebrating, and not getting too high in the moment. After a tough loss like this, how confident are you in the team's being able to respond going back to Golden State for Game 6?
NICK NURSE: We didn't take a timeout there on that last play, right, but we let them play and Kawhi had it and they doubled him, and he moved it to Fred, and moved it to Kyle, and we just didn't quite have enough space there. I thought it looked like it was going to be a really good shot, an open corner three, but I didn't see who got out there and got a piece of it. But again, I was confident we would come down and play and make the right decisions and get a good shot. I have a lot of faith in those guys.

As far as your second question, we don't really have much choice, and I think that our team has reacted all year long great to bad losses, and I would say it takes a lot to beat this team, and that took a hell of a lot of blows and a heck of a lot of balls bouncing the wrong way in the last couple minutes for us to come out on the wrong side of it tonight.

But I'm super proud of the guys. Man, they played their guts out, kept on fighting, and put themselves in position to win it.

Q. Sort of elaborating on what you were just saying, if this thing had gone to plan, you're supposed to be up 3-2 right now. I mean, that's what home court is, you're supposed to be up 3-2 at this point. Having said that, is it hard for you to not look at tonight as an opportunity lost?
NICK NURSE: No, not hard at all. I think that I always, I think after Game 2 in the Philly series I said, listen, I expect this to be a long series, right. I expect this one to be a long series. I'm not sitting here trying to think we should be this, be that, but if you would have probably told me at the start of this thing if we could fast forward to a 3-2 lead, you want to take it? I would probably say yes.

Q. When you see a ball like that going up and a championship possibly won, what are you sitting there on the bench, inside feeling and all of that, when that one shot can win?
NICK NURSE: Talking about Kyle's at the end? You're not thinking about all that stuff, really. I think, again, you're just trying to win a game, and you're not thinking about anything other than that. I think you always just got to play out the possessions and do your best to get the best shot you can get, and whatever happens after that takes care of itself.

Q. I wanted to know the thought process behind calling the timeout when we were making a run, while the Raptors were making their run?
NICK NURSE: Those two we took at three-minute mark? Yeah, well, we had two free ones that you lose under the three-minute mark, and we just came across and just decided to give those guys a rest, and we had back-to-back ones there that we would have lost them under the three-minute mark, and just thought we could use the extra energy push.

Q. When you're up six with three minutes left, are you more confident in your team's poise to be able to close out that game or do you have trepidation about the triggermen on the other side?
NICK NURSE: Well, I think that in this day and age, up six with three minutes to go doesn't mean a whole lot. You got to keep playing and getting good shots and keep guarding. We have been a really good close-game team this year, both ends of the floor. We really guarded in the second half; we held them to 22 each quarter, and I felt good at that point. Just needed to make a couple more plays.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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