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Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse pulled off one of the biggest shockers of this season's playoffs after putting out a box-and-1 defensive scheme against the Golden State Warriors in Game 2 of the Finals.
While this is by no means a revolutionary defensive set-up, it is very rarely used at the NBA level, which is why a good number of analysts were surprised by Nurse's unorthodox move.
However, the coach's decision seemed to have instantly paid dividends, as the Raptors were able to put forth a late run in the fourth quarter that brought them to within a single possession against the defending champs.
Following his teams narrow 109-104 defeat, Nurse explained how he was happy with how the box-and-1 defense worked out for his team during the contest.
“I was feeling really good because we stopped their scoring and finally got something figured out there to slow them down,” Nurse said, via Blake Murphy of The Athletic. “And we were getting a bunch of wide-open shots, I think we missed three wide-open 3s in a row there to cut it to maybe four, right, and maybe it was five. I don’t know what exactly what it was, but a bunch of stops in a row and we didn’t get much to show for it at the other end. But I’m really proud of our guys for fighting and battling.”
Nurse literally had to pull out all the stops following a huge third quarter by the Warriors that almost turned the game into a blowout.
The coach's tactics did work out, but unfortunately, they were not enough to hold off the Warriors surge.
