Portland Trail Blazers big man Jusuf Nurkic refuses to make a big deal of a questionable decision by head coach Terry Stotts to bench him for most of the fourth quarter of last Friday’s 101-97 home loss to the Brooklyn Nets.
According to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian, Nurkic took the high road instead of making any incendiary comments about the apparent benching.
As for playing just 53 seconds in the 4th quarter against the Nets, Jusuf Nurk said: "I respect Coach’s decision. To be honest, I never have a better coach than Stotts. So, there’s (not) anything wrong."
— Joe Freeman (@BlazerFreeman) November 12, 2017
Despite the limited time in the last period, Nurkic was still able to lead the team with 21 points on 10-of-20 shooting from the field to go with five rebounds in 25 minutes.
For most of the first three quarters, Nurkic had had his way through the Nets’ punching bag frontline, one that is mostly responsible for why Brooklyn is 10th in the league in points allowed in the paint per contest. He was arguably the team’s best player, but Stotts played the matchup game and tried to combat Brooklyn’s speed by deploying a small lineup in the fourth period at the expense of Nurkic’s playing time. The Nets are No. 1 in the NBA in possessions per game, meaning they like to play an up-tempo style of basketball.
Instead of Nurkic, Stotts relied heavily on a guard-heavy lineup with featured Evan Turner and Shabazz Napier, though Ed Davis also found some floor time in the fourth quarter.
Nurkic, who is averaging 15.6 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, is looking to have a more significant role this Monday against his former team, the Denver Nuggets, at home.
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