Boston drew first blood against the Toronto Raptors by winning Game 1. This gave them the lead in the eastern conference semis and plenty of momentum, heading into the next game. Naturally, Raptors’ head coach Nick Nurse’s disappointment was evident from his words in the post-game presser.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
The Toronto Raptors suffered one of their off-nights against the Celtics. In fact, this is just their second loss inside the Bubble and both of them came against the same opponent. So, it is no secret that the Raptors struggle to deliver against Boston.
Game 1 saw a poor shooting display from the Raptors, which didn’t go down well with Nick Nurse. Obviously, the Raptors’ locker room wasn’t a happy one after the loss. The team hoped to gain an early advantage, but failed to capitalize.
Nick Nurse on how the Toronto Raptors played in Game 1
Just a few days into the playoffs, Nick Nurse was awarded the 2019/20 NBA Coach of the Year award. This is the first in his career, and a deserving one for his achievements as the coach of Toronto. Moreover, Nick Nurse is also the first candidate to win the award in both the NBA and the G League.
The 53-year-old has been instrumental in the team’s recent success, but a lot of it was missing in Game 1. Hence, Nurse refrained from sugarcoating his words when addressing the media after the 18-point loss.
“The mood’s not good. We’re not happy. We’re a little pissed off, and we should be,” Nurse said, as per Josh Lewenberg of TSN. “We’re not proud of anything we did yesterday. So you gotta live through that until you get another chance… You’ve gotta make it better. You’ve gotta make it OK.”
“I’d much rather be holding hands and skipping rope after a win, but this is where we find ourselves,” he added. While the Raptors might be down after the defeat, you can never count out the reigning champions.
The series is not over yet, and there’s a long road ahead. With Game 2 right around the corner, Kyle Lowry and the players will look to retaliate and level the series to even the playing ground.
