![]() “For a coach to succeed in this league, he has to have great relationships with his players, especially his top players,” Morey said. Embiid might have an easier time chasing a ring with Nurse than fighting against him. ![]() Nurse earned a reputation as a creative defensive tactician, who often stymied Embiid by throwing double- and triple-teams at him. Team president Daryl Morey, who along with owner Josh Harris, flanked Nurse at the dais, said his new coach will work well with Embiid. “I accidentally had my TV on yesterday and I saw a couple of them. “It’s a little bit entertaining for me,” Nurse said. Some of the best colorful quips became social media fodder this week. Nurse met with Embiid before accepting the job, making sure all was cool with the franchise player after a serious of (usually playful) jabs they’ve thrown at each other throughout the years. He also spent five years as an assistant to former Raptors coach Dwane Casey before taking over the top job. 582 winning percentage ranks as the best of any coach in Raptors history. Nurse went 227-163 in his five seasons as coach in Toronto, where his. The Raptors missed the playoffs twice since the championship, one reason he was on the market last month. Nurse was emboldened that the Sixers will get there because of what he did in Toronto, taking a franchise that had one conference finals appearance since their 1995 inception to the title in 2019. And we’re going to have to rise above it.” “I’d imagine from Day 1, we’re going to talk about that and we’re going to try and attack that. “The reality is, that’s the truth,” Nurse said. Until the season comes when the Sixers get at least one round further, the doubts will remain. The belief among fans, media and NBA insiders that the Sixers could win a title this season was blunted, in large part, by the string of second-round exits. Why is the only time to look back - such as the 76ers did this year with their 1983 championship celebration - when there’s success? The Sixers haven’t reached the Eastern Conference Finals since 2001. As for that ball bounce, it was Kawhi Leonard’s four-bounce bucket in Game 7 - the first winning buzzer-beater in a Game 7 in NBA history - that sent the Sixers home in 2019. There was just a hint of 2019 in Nurse’s explanation why the Sixers fall short each year, with the team clearly craving “that combination of staying healthy, the ball bouncing your way.”Įmbiid suffering some sort of injury in the postseason each year is almost as expected as the early exit. The 55-year-old Nurse led the Raptors to the 2019 NBA championship after they beat Embiid and the Sixers in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. “I don’t really vibrate on the frequency of the past,” Nurse said. Just don’t expect Nurse to dwell much on the Sixers’ postseason malaise. With the Sixers on the postseason sidelines, and weeks after they fired Doc Rivers, they turned to Nurse to try solve those second-round woes. Meanwhile, the Sixers introduced yet another new coach touting yet another new vision after yet another season without a championship. The Denver Nuggets host the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the Finals. “This team could be playing tonight,” Nurse said.īut they’re not, of course. Nurse, officially named Philadelphia’s coach on Thursday weeks after he was fired by the Toronto Raptors, had loftier expectations for a franchise that instead suffered through a third straight second-round playoff exit. ![]() Yet for all that talent, the Sixers are home watching the NBA Finals. (AP) - Nick Nurse inherits a Philadelphia 76ers team in which Joel Embiid blossomed into an MVP, Tyrese Maxey developed into a rising star and James Harden flashed his old All-Star form in the playoffs.
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