Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse wants his team to distribute shots better against the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals.
At times, the Raptors rely too much on star small forward Kawhi Leonard to carry them on offense. Nurse says while Leonard is an all-world player, Toronto needs to get other guys involved if they want to defeat the Bucks and advance to the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history:
“A hundred percent. A hundred percent,” Nurse said when asked if the Raptors would need to distribute shots better than they did at times in Game 7, and against the 76ers in general, via Eric Koreen of The Athletic.
“I think all the way leading into the fourth quarter of the game the other day, we were trying to keep more people involved offensively. I think somebody told me in the first eight minutes of the game the other night we had 22 uncontested shots and we made eight of them, (the latter of) which isn’t good. So we need to keep creating those and spread those around a little bit and make some of those. I’m hoping that we do.”
Leonard took 39 shots in the Game 7 win against the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round. Point guard Kyle Lowry took the second-most shots that night for the Raptors, getting up only 13 attempts. That has to change moving forward against Milwaukee.
Lowry, Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Danny Green all have to play at a high level for the Raptors in the conference finals. The team can't just count on Leonard to carry them offensively.
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