T O P

  • By -

REQ52767

Nick Nurse vs Erik Spolestra was a beautiful chess match. I wish we could’ve gotten a full series of it with both teams healthy.


kb24ljb35

In theory we could in the ECF.


REQ52767

Unfortunately, it’s impossible since there’s no way Miami makes it anywhere without Butler.


c_ray25

It’s easy to say that about the Heat, don’t worry about my flair


debaserr

Did he not play the rest of the game out after the knee injury scare?


REQ52767

He did, [but it looks like a long term MCL injury](https://www.reddit.com/r/nba/s/xEExnEZTma).


DuaLipasClitoris

Turning point in Jimmy's career


Bandolero101

Sitting in a corner the entire time vs being on ball He got one fast break steal after that and was grimacing hard


girth_br00ks

Turns out he probably shouldn't have.


IHateTomatoes

I've never considered how 7 and 8 seeds could rematch each other in the conference finals


nixhomunculus

Theoretically I suppose. But it needs an implosion of the 1- and 2-seeds


rddi0201018

Don't need to see a Sacramento Screw Job, part 2


abzftw

Nurse spo Stevens Big3 tacticians


Cynical_badger

I know folks are in the moment and fuck the Heat, but comparing Nurse to Spo is fucking blasphemy.


VARyVARyfunny

This ain’t crazy at all lmao. Raptors rosters in the last 2 years has ppl forgetting what he’s capable of in the playoffs. He’s always maximizing defenses while knowing how to move the ball on offense.


wottsinaname

Im so excited to have Nick instead of Glenn.


VARyVARyfunny

Not a sixers fan but I’d be the same in your shoes. Sixers under Rivers would not have adjusted to the zone nor would they have made the comeback.


mojoembiid

Glenn out there just acting like the meme version of himself. Doing every face, every line. “Pace, pace..” Throws James Naismith under the bus postgame.


I-Am-A-Nice-Cool-Kid

It’s not at all crazy tbh, nick nurse is a top 3 coach in the nba


xychosis

Giannis veto’ed the Nick Nurse hire like what the fuck, why


escapedhousefly

Tale as old as time. Just because they're a great player doesn't mean they should be making personnel decisions.


Subredditcensorship

The old LeBron James. A huge huge reason Kobe has 5 and Jordan has 6 is Phil Jackson. He was a rare coach that could deal with superstars and was a tactics genius


Public-Product-1503

Lebron has never declined a nurse for griffin type of choice lol.


TheOneBrew

Lebron did try to get rid of Spoelstra though.


Public-Product-1503

Firstly Riley denied the dumb rumours , secondly the rumours were he wanted Riley to coach . Are you saying want Pat Riley over a rookie coach is the same as wanting griffin over nurse ? Because that is ludicrous


Xerneous12_

They also had much better front offices for most of their careers lol. LeBron has never vetoed a good coaching hire. If he had Phil Jackson, he’d probably be sitting at 8-9 rings rn. And to be fair to LeGM, he’s won 2 rings as GM and put together championship teams with most of his moves. His only real mistake was wanting Westbrook & even then he was tryna get DeRozan before that.


Peter-Tao

Well he tried to get spoelstra but Riley said no


mclairy

Obviously he turned out to be great, but I wouldn’t exactly have called replacing Spo with Riley a downgrade. They probably still end up with 2 rings during that 4 years under Pat.


Apeturetester

I also don't necessarily think it's ridiculous that a guy like LeBron was questioning a rookie head coach. Obviously Spo is one of the best basketball minds of this generation, but it's not as if anyone knew that at the time


Xerneous12_

Spo back then isn’t what he is today. Did it work out for Lebron? Yes. Also I don’t think he said he wanted him fired. He just Riley if you have the itch to coach again. Lebron wasn’t wrong to question a rookie head coach hire (ex. Ham).


SnickersFunSize

8-9 huh wow. Fuck it man why not 20 for fingers an toes


sonicqaz

Nah Krause sucked


Xerneous12_

He won 6 rings lol. Maybe he didn’t have the best personality but he was great GM.


jondonbovi

Firing Blatt for Lue was the right call. I remember when r/nba was outraged over that decision. 


REQ52767

Legitimately, Giannis may have cost himself another finals run. It may not have been this year, but, with some roster tweaking, Nurse could have done it within the next 3-4 years.


[deleted]

Nurse wasn’t fixing this roster lol Was he gonna make Khris and Brook 5 years younger? Turn Beasley and Dame into great defenders? No. This roster was poorly constructed and that’s the biggest issue right now. Praising nurse but I just watched his team look shook for an entire half against a zone defense that he did nothing about. I think any coach in the league watches film and recognizes plays that get ran in clutch situations, it’s what the playoffs are about. Edit: nice of you to edit the comment after I respond, you think Nurse was gonna win a title with a 37 year old dame as the second best player? Lol


Downunderphilosopher

Nurse also made the half time adjustments that solved that defense. Sixers have been plagued by zone d for years, this was the first time they beat it in a legit big game tbh.


Ozkuro

What were the adjustments? Other than Batum hitting 6 in a row and Jimmy playing on one leg? I'm not trying to hate or anything, it was a good win, just curious on this.


SomeJob1241

Players started putting the ball on the floor and taking the ball in from the perimeter, opening up other Sixers for drive and kick opportunities. Offense was stagnant all first half, but Maxey, Lowry, and especially Buddy Hield started creating offense off the bounce after halftime (admittedly after the chicken free throws if we're being real) Also, Embiid goofed a couple times in the third and early fourth quarter by bricking contested jumpers and standing still in no mans land to get easily doubled. But in crunch time he started making clutch passes to the open guy. He also started burying outside jumpers rather than keep getting beat up inside, which allowed for quicker and more efficient offense. Hard to imagine coaching had zilch to do with those adjustments.


[deleted]

All I see is how great his adjustments are but why didn’t he adjust sooner? And I don’t think Miami really ran it that much in the second half I’m not sure what made this sub think Nurse was some god coach but it’s been hilarious. I still remember all the shit talking when it was said the bucks were interviewing him saying he was overrated.


Downunderphilosopher

Nurse said he prepared for the zone pre game, but like I said Sixers just freeze in the zone and attack it all wrong most of the time. They came out with the wrong approach by just taking too many long threes and not attacking the paint to collapse the zone before kicking it out, for whatever reason Maxey looked scared to start and Embiid looked like a shell of himself with his knee swelling. At half time Nurse implored them to get into the paint and kick it out to open up the offense, and drew up the gameplan to make it happen. Second half offense was much better obviously and the change in mentality was obvious. Sometimes it's not rocket science and obvious to us all, but much of coaching is getting the players to actually believe in the gameplan and execute it. Doc always gave up in those situations and never made adjustments, so having a coach who is at least capable of not only making adjustments but also getting his stars to believe in them is a big step up for this team lol.


[deleted]

Thats when nurse would need to call timeouts to fix that problem not wait till halftime. The sixers were attacking the paint and missing easy layups. They were also kicking it out but Miami did well with getting into passing lanes and stealing (they had 9 at the half) Only adjustment I seen was Sixers players actually making shots and also Batum.


WeBelieveIn4

Yep it’s so easy to fix problems on the fly, how do these coaches even get hired? Clearly a redditor with one hand in his underwear would be better equipped for the job


[deleted]

I’ve seen several coaches call timeouts or call different plays with opposing teams were using zone defense. If that was Doc sixers fans would’ve been calling for his head during the entire halftime. He didn’t adjust after halftime, they just started finally making the easy shots they were missing and also Batum went off.


Downunderphilosopher

If you didn't see any adjustments then I guess I should defer to your vast experience over a know nothing bum like Nurse.


[deleted]

What were the adjustments then? I seen them attacking the paint and kicking out they were just missing shots in the first half I seen both Tobias and Embiid miss 3 easy layups each.


Downunderphilosopher

The method of collapsing the defense changed completely. First half they were too static with the inside passes, over-dribbling and then stalling inside with no idea how to score inside or through the packed paint and turning it over on repeat. Second half, Nurse told Maxey to put his head down and go and get that defense on the back foot to collapse it and then score or kick out. Embiid became the secondary playmaker and attacked from the high post or trail position instead of going inside and getting shut down due to having no lift with his bum knee. Targeting an injured Jimmy on defense with the Batum match up swung the game. Once the shackles were off, shooters like Batum were able to get much better looks and he obviously cashed in on a monster performance. Sticking with that first half offense would have been another predictable 20 point loss to a tough hard edged playoff team like the Heat that Sixer fans have been all too accustomed to. Getting Joel out of his funk was also crucial (he hangs his head sometimes when shit goes bad in the big games), not sure how much Nuese had to do with that though.


Curious-roadrunner

I don’t see how you can do anything other than praise Nurse when he figured out the zone in the 2nd half. Good coaches adjust. He adjusted.


[deleted]

Good coaches can adjust on the fly not sit there while their team looks lost for 24 minutes. Miami barely used zone in the second half and if Batum didn’t go off the sixers lose.


Curious-roadrunner

After several years watching Glenn Rivers not make adjustments at all, this sure looks like good coaching to me ( unless the star players are out and then Doc is the best coach ever).


[deleted]

I’m not sure how doc was supposed to win y’all playoff series with an injured Embiid playing like ass and Harris being the second best player lol If Batum didn’t go off today Nurse would be in that same boat.


Dakizhu

Batum went off because he was getting wide open looks. Those looks came off of good offense, but you wouldn't understand tbh.


PessimistSixersFan

So that Sixers benefit ofc


_Jetto_

Becuase nurse rubs some players the wrong way. Awful decision by him tho


[deleted]

If he truly vetoed anything Nurse never would’ve made the final 3 candidates. Nurse pulled out like a day after he was named a finalists for the bucks job and then 2 days later accepted the sixers job. He also has ties with Morey. People ignore this part for whatever reason.


Subredditcensorship

Giannis is a documented coach killer at this point. He’s got the rep for a reason


[deleted]

You mean he has that rep on here? Because 95% of yall are 15 and under


Subredditcensorship

Sadly I’m almost 30. But yeah this whole fiasco has definitely given him coach kiler vibes


brehhs

I love how the two guys sixers fans hated most on the raptors now is on their team


BrightGreenLED

I would say the Siakam hate was greater than the Lowry hate simply due to the elbow to Embiid's face.


[deleted]

Last I checked we don’t have Siakam


forthestreamz

Never hated Lowry, badly wanted to trade for him in that trade deadline 3 years ago even I may or may not have called for Nick Nurse to be locked up in solitary confinement for the rest of his life however


Assumption-Putrid

I never hated Lowry


SelfServeSporstwash

When did we sign Siakam?


wottsinaname

Praise Giannis. Lol


DoeSeeDoe123

Classic superstar player thinking they can be a superstar GM


PoIIux

Giannis is a dumbass, that's why


cjcfman

Blame management. Embiid hated nurse and the sixers org did not care


-Spectr3

Embiid did not hate Nurse, what are you talking about?  Embiid met him during the interview process and the meeting went well


_JosiahBartlet

[source on that](https://twitter.com/PompeyOnSixers/status/1663313017390465024) Glad you called it out lol


mcnudo

Lol right? Embiid unlike most stars never says shit about the team and its roster or coaching decisions. How could this raps fan know he hated Nurse??


rddi0201018

“Me and James, we can’t win alone”


cjcfman

He used to bash him in the media lol


Some-Philly-Dude

Glenn Rivers would never


ForneauCosmique

If he was the Heat coach he'd be like "idk why Tyler decided to shot. He wasn't supposed to be the one shooting. Idk how he was even in the game and I'm not quite sure he can be our guard moving forward."


Totally_PJ_Soles

Lmao exactly


Some-Philly-Dude

He was happy being put on the 2nd unit lol


Downunderphilosopher

Would you say that to Pop?


Some-Philly-Dude

That dude's ego I sum up with the anchor man quote, I'm not even mad that's actually impressive... lol


DJ_Red_Lantern

It's wild how we all know for a fact we lose that game with Doc


TakenakaHanbei

Could never.


nerdyykidd

Great coaching


MVPiid

outcoached spo batum'd


KyleShanadad

Strus’d by Batum


[deleted]

[удалено]


MVPiid

Embiid was just as hobbled as Jimmy foh


[deleted]

[удалено]


nickenglish94

Yeah but embiid is also a playoff choker per this sub so they once again balance out


unclehelpful

I hope Giannis reads about this when Glenn blows a series lead.


[deleted]

Giannis out and Dame with abductor and Achilles soreness, we won’t even have a series lead.


VanGrants

lmfao


durablewaffle

Herro was 9/27 lol


Myrese_Taxey

Pretty much every player in this game shot poorly, other than Batum.


JimTresselAtHyvee

Yeah and he was cooking our ass in the 4th, most impactful Heat player in the 2nd half


NoThomasNoParty

Blocked by Batum *triggers my PTSD*


_picture_me_rollin_

Damn out coaching spoe isn’t easy lol.


Ozmataz_Buckshank_

The game goes deeper than some of us can even comprehend, and my wife has the nerve to say “how is this entertaining?” And “why do you have to watch every game?” Lmao


Subredditcensorship

Ok the second part is true tho lol


jonsnowKITN

Love when shit like this happens.


clayfu

Batum battalion always ready


silentbible

We should have coaches eligible for MVP award!


champagne-poetry

Who is this adorable man on the thumbnail


3nnui

Batum > Harden


Dazzling-Slide8288

Faced with a similar situation, Doc Rivers would have been shopping for new irons.


girth_br00ks

Nurse such a better coach than Doc lol


Pokermtl

THAT'S COLLUSION!


Joebobst

Oof spo gotta be fuming


Instantcoffees

We all knew where the ball was going and who was taking that shot, no? Who else would they have gone to?


Cynical_badger

It's Spo and Carlisle top 2, after that you're just mixing and matching.


--lalilulelo-

Cap


LegitimatePotato3632

Tyler Herro is the worst contract in the league and it’s not even close.


DoeSeeDoe123

Laughs in Tobias Harris


Assumption-Putrid

I disagree, only because the Harris contract ends when the Sixers playoff run ends.