Does Nick Nurse Deserve As Much Criticism As His Predecessors?
DISCLAIMER: I have been fascinated all season long watching the approach and strategies on display from Nick Nurse. I enjoy hearing him talk the game and always feel I learn something by listening.
His pedigree is strong and I’m still very hopeful that his hiring will result in victories we haven’t seen here in a generation.
THE PREMISE:
It’s been such a small sample size, but only two post season games in and I’m not thrilled with the way the team has looked in either game. A game against a beaten up Miami Heat squad required a Herculean comeback that honestly never would have happened without an injury to Jimmy Butler.
Then, after an outstanding first quarter in Madison Square Garden, the 76ers collapsed and were embarrassed by a lack of rebounding effort. A golden opportunity slipped between their fingers and Game Two now certainly has a critical feel to it.
Previously, We Blamed Head Coaches, Why Not Nick Nurse?
The 76ers had a lead in Game 6 at home vs the Boston Celtics with a chance to close out their series. They had a reigning MVP and a top 75 All Time NBA player on the court. They couldn’t deliver and then failed to even show up for Game 7 in Boston. Who took the brunt of the critique? Coach Doc Rivers!
So I’m sure we will see fans have the same level of critique for Nick Nurse. Nurse has an NBA Championship on his resume from 2019 but in the 4 years since then he has won a single playoff series. This year isn’t exactly off to a rousing start on changing that narrative.
STRANGE HAPPENINGS ON SATURDAY
The first quarter plan on Saturday evening was fantastic, but the plan after Embiid went to the bench was less than stellar. In a matter of four minutes, the lead evaporated and the Head Coach watched.
Hopefully, there is a better plan for Game Two. The inability to have a strategy or perhaps a better explanation on why his team seemed less than motivated to rebound should be expected. Why did the 76ers fail to intentionally foul as time ran out? If the last two games unfolded under Doc Rivers, we would be hearing how terrible a job it was.
MY SOLUTION
Let’s resolve to not blame Nick Nurse first when professional athletes completely wet their pants in critical moments. Nurse didn’t miss a shot or fail to hustle on rebounding opportunities. He wasn’t the one leaving numerous Knicks shooters wide open as the perimeter defense looked pathetic.
Game One was an opportunity wasted. Game Two better provide a strong answer in response. If not, the players AND the Coach deserve a fair share of the scrutiny.
Watch Kincade & Salciunas on the 97.5 The Fanatic YouTube page for discussion about the latest breaking sports news in Philadelphia.
6 Things Sixers President Daryl Morey Said When He Joined Our Show
Tyrese Maxey Passed All Tests With Flying Colors
“One big question coming in was Tyrese Maxey. We knew he was an amazing player, but we thought we’d get a better sense of where he’s at with, some of the other roster changes. And we got an even better sense of how he can play as as one of the primary guys when Joel was out. He passed everything with flying colors.”
Boston Is The Best Team He Has Seen Since The Warriors
“Boston’s a juggernaut. I mean, they’re the best team I’ve seen since the Golden State teams we went against when I was in the West. I think the other teams all have question marks. We are one of those teams. We need we need health. We need we need a few things to go our way. The Celtics don’t need a lot to go their way.
We feel very good about matching up with everybody where, you know, in terms of the Celtics that we do match up with them. More than most teams we think we match up pretty well. But they’re playing at a at a really high level. We’ve got to play them eventually if we’re going to reach our goal of winning the championship. So yeah, it’ll be it’ll be a challenge whenever we face them.”
Sees His Team As One of The Favorites
“I think we’re in this weird position of having some significant challenges during the regular season. But we feel like we’re one of the favorites. I don’t see three or 4 or 5 teams better than us. When when we have everyone, which, unfortunately, we don’t have everyone. But we have the horses. We feel like we go in as one of the favorites, but we’ve got the added challenge. It’s pretty rare you have to win one more one-and-done, to maintain being the favorite right up front.”
His Team Is On An Upswing
“In the past few years there was some negative news right before the playoffs. Now we’re on an upswing.
We’ve got Maxey on his ascendency. We have Joel still at this peak. When he’s when he’s been out there this year he’s been better than even his MVP year. We’ve got a mix of veterans that have won tons and tons of playoff games, some of them against me like Batum and Lowry. We’ve got guys who are, showing the league what they can do like the Oubres of the world.
We’ve got an upward trend. We’ve given ourselves an extra battle with Miami. But I feel like going into the playoffs, we have everyone playing on a really nice upward trend.”
His Ideas For the NBA Playoffs Format
“I think they should add more things to make the regular season meaningful. I think the top two teams should get byes. I think there should be even more of a Play-In tournament from seed 5 on. Home court should only go to the top few teams.
Obviously, it hurt us this season. But I do think it’s the right direction for the league. We generally have the least interesting playoffs of any of the major professional teams in terms of the better teams beating the worst teams. So adding drama like this is a positive for the league, even if it’s not positive for the Sixers this year.”
It Was Torture For Him Score Board Watching on Sunday
“Generally just torture. I like the planning part of the job that’s, you know, let’s figure out how to best way to win the championship. Because during the game, especially when it’s, you know, waiting for results from other teams, there’s really a lack of control there. It’s really mostly torture.
Especially when a game going your way is like 8-to 10-point lead and then it flips on you. That’s the part of the job I probably would take out if I could. I wish it could be just the methodical planning without a bunch of randomness if we could avoid it.”
