Toronto Raptors’ Nick Nurse Named N.B.A. Coach of the Year

Toronto’s celebration last year was just winding down when Leonard decided to join the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Raptors hardly missed a beat Leonard, who had been named the most valuable player of the N.B.A. finals. They rolled to a 53-19 record and the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. They have a 3-0 lead over the Nets and will try to finish off the sweep Sunday.

Nurse is 111-43 in two seasons. He has more than validated the Raptors’ decision to fire Dwane Casey in 2018, even though Casey had won the Coach of the Year Award that season after guiding Toronto to a 59-23 record.

But the Raptors kept getting overrun by LeBron James and Cleveland in the playoffs. Masai Ujiri, the team president, decided to part ways with Casey, the franchise’s career leader in victories, and promote Nurse, who had been an assistant for five years.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/22/sports/basketball/nba-raptors-nick-nurse-coach-year.html