The Toronto Raptors earned perhaps their most important victory in franchise history on Wednesday night. Even so, beating the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of the NBA Finals was bigger than basketball for first-year coach Nick Nurse.

As the final buzzer sounded at Oracle Arena, officially putting the Raptors up 2-1 on the two-time defending champions, Nurse was captured by the television broadcast with his elbows on his knees, staring down at the floor deep in thought. He remained in his seat on Toronto's sideline even as players and fellow coaches around him rose to stoically celebrate the win, before getting up and, with tears in his eyes, sharing a quick embrace with Fred VanVleet.

On the postgame podium, Nurse explained that the recent death of his mother, whose birthday is June 5th, caused him to pause for a moment of introspection.

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“She passed right in the middle of the season on that west coast road trip, and she had said that she was glad she lived long enough to see me become a head coach and hoped she’d see me win a championship, but if she didn’t she would be watching anyway,” he said, per the Toronto Star's Doug Smith.

Marcella Nurse would have turned 95 years old on Wednesday. She is survived by her nine children, youngest of whom is the Raptors' coach.

If Toronto continues playing at the level it did in Game 3 come Friday night's contest, Nurse may find himself just one game away from becoming the eighth rookie head coach in league history to win a title.