Raptors news: Nick Nurse is irritated, Chris Boucher, Ben Simmons praise

Nick Nurse and the Toronto Raptors are well aware of the fact that the vibes are just a bit off following Wednesday’s loss against the Brooklyn Nets. The squad is beaten up, and all of those injuries stacked on top of one another have made it hard to pull off wins.

The Raptors were missing three of their four best players in Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and Scottie Barnes. Key role players like Otto Porter Jr. and Precious Achiuwa were also banged up. While Nurse is renowned as a master tinkerer, even he has his limits on how much he can experiment.

“Not really, to be honest with you,” Nurse said to Michael Grange of SportsNet. “Once in a while, you might enjoy the challenge, but not for three weeks in a row here…It’s not the end of the world, and it’s not like we haven’t played very well, because I think we have.

The Raptors will hopefully have most of their big names back in relatively short order, which should help take some of the pressure off Nurse and a coaching staff that is trying anything and everything to perform without their best names.

More Raptors news

• Though Ben Simmons and his Nets beat the Raptors, Simmons was impressed by Nick Nurse’s defense. “Defensively, they’re in the passing lanes, they’re up on the ball of pressuring,” Simmons said.
  “They bring that every night. Something that I’ve learned playing Toronto over the years, they’ve kept that culture of playing physical, in the passing lanes, and defensively just being great.”
• On the “Hustle Play” podcast, Raptors big man Chris Boucher said that he paid rookie Christian Koloko’s fine after his early-season scuffle with Miami Heat wing Caleb Martin. Koloko stood up for himself when challenged by Martin, and it looks like Boucher was appreciative of that effort.

https://twitter.com/AaronBenRose/status/1595810437274402816

NBA News

• In the Nets’ victory over the Raptors, Kevin Durant passed Hall of Famer Kevin Garnett and is now 18th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. A pair of Celtics in John Havlicek and Paul Pierce are the next two stars he will pass, followed by Spurs legend Tim Duncan.
• Lakers point guard Patrick Beverley has been suspended for three games after shoving Suns center Deandre Ayton to the ground. Given Beverley’s unapologetic behavior and past history with incidents like this, it’s unsurprising the league came down like this. The Raptors dodged a bullet by not trading for him.