Raptors' Nurse named top coach of the season

ORLANDO (Florida) • National Basketball Association (NBA) Finals Most Valuable Player Kawhi Leonard is widely considered to be the galvanising force behind the Toronto Raptors' maiden championship title.

But to those in the franchise, Nick Nurse played just as important a role as the forward, who left for the Los Angeles Clippers last summer. The Raptors coach was on Saturday recognised for his success after being named the Coach of the Year for the 2019-20 season.

Two other Toronto coaches have won the accolade before - Dwane Casey (2018) and Sam Mitchell (2007) - but neither of them led the team to the promised land.

Nurse, who took over from Casey in 2018 for what was his first job as an NBA head coach, has also proven their historic year was no fluke.

The champions had the league's second-best record during the regular season - 53-19 - and their 73.6 per cent win rate was a franchise record.

They are also on the verge of sweeping the Brooklyn Nets with a 3-0 lead in their opening-round Eastern Conference play-off series in Orlando, Florida.

The 53-year-old Nurse, who has an overall 111-43 record with the team, highlighted how his players had matured mentally from "chokers" to genuine contenders in his two years at the helm.

He added: "There's a player development segment, there's a way we play defence, there's a way we share the ball, there's competitiveness, there's a never-give-up attitude, there's all kinds of big-shot mentality, there's lots of things that have emerged from this team.

"That the biggest one is the way we try to go out and play hard and try hard defensively and how we try to figure things out each, almost each and every possession, on each and every night."

REUTERS