An All Star moment

CHICAGO: NBA All Star Weekend is more a spectacle than an actual competition.

Sure, there’s the dunk and three-point contests as well as the crown jewel that is the annual All Star Game on Sunday night, but in reality, the three-day break is a chance to showcase some of the League’s brightest and most interesting stars among a throng of workshops, celebrity appearances and musical performances.

In a way, an NBA All Star nod is more in the shape of a lifetime achievement award. And, certainly, Carroll’s Nick Nurse fits in quite well. He’s got the credentials and the back story to support his ascension to the top of the league. The Toronto Raptors head coach’s incredible job this winter, navigating a roster missing a Finals MVP in addition to not only enduring a wave of injuries but thriving, is a testament to how good of a coach Nurse really is. Being tabbed with manning the sidelines in the All Star Game is an absolute show of appreciation for one of the hardest workers in the league.

Last weekend’s Chi-Town showcase was perhaps the most thrilling game in years and featured the league’s most unlikely success story.

By now, we Iowans know the long and winding rise of 2019 NBA Champion head coach Nick Nurse (from Carroll and Cedar Falls to England to Des Moines to Toronto and many more stops in between), but the entire world enjoyed a glimpse into the former Kuemper Catholic Knight’s mind. He took it all in, meeting President Barack Obama while fielding numerous interview requests, all while creating connections with various basketball stars.

“It was a tremendous honor to be here,” Nurse said during in the All Star Game post-game press conference Sunday. “The extravaganza was really something for a few days. Then the game comes, and it’s really neat to be a part of. Those guys were amazing. From the opening moments in the locker room before the game, they were really positive, competing and playing hard.”

The Raptors’ title defense has gone surprisingly well midway through the 2019–20 season, as they’ve charged out to a 40-15 record, the quickest jaunt to 40 wins in franchise history. Toronto boasts the third-best record in the league and currently sit second in the Eastern Conference behind Milwaukee, thanks to a franchise and Canadian sports record 15-game win streak that was snapped last week. The hot start earned Nurse the prestigious honor of coaching Team Giannis, where the Vegas underdog (they were expected to lose by 5.5 points to Team LeBron), took the game and its new format down to the wire, where LeBron and his fellow buddies eventually prevailed, 157-155 on Anthony Davis’ clinching free throw.

Nurse was joined by fellow Raptors players Kyle Lowry, who made his sixth-straight appearance, and first-time All Star Pascal Siakam, as well as his entire coaching staff, which included Storm Lake’s Nate Bjorkgren.

The many talents Nurse has acquired over the years were on full display throughout the weekend. He was mic’d up throughout the arena during an All Star practice Feb. 15, where he, perhaps having a little fun with it all, forced some of the best players in the world to run a full court, five-man weave. He then displayed his trademark positivity to the All Stars through a series of quick plays. The weekend was quite the treat, Nurse said.

“What’s cool for me is to be able to share it with the staff, share it with friends and family,” Nurse said during the All Star media day Feb. 15. “You’re in the center of the basketball world right now, and it’s an honor. I don’t think it comes around a lot in your coaching career to do things like this. We are happy to be here. We are trying to enjoy it.”

One of the Nurse girls, daughter of Maury and Marcella and sister to Nick, lived in Chicago for 20 years. The youngest Nurse said he’s really come to love the city after visiting it several times, and combined with its rich basketball history (hello, Michael Jordan, anyone?), it was about time the All Star Game returned to the shores of Lake Michigan for the first time in 32 years.

“It’s one of my favorite cities in the world. It’s close to home,” Nurse said. “My father (Maury) lived here when he was stationed with the Navy. It’s pretty cool. My family drove in from Iowa. It’s great.”

The 2020 All Star Game featured a new format. The four quarters were split into individual mini games, if you will. The score reset before each 12-period frame, with each quarter’s winner earning $100,000 for charity. The scores were then added up for an overall total following the first three periods. Twenty-four points were added to the winning team’s total prior to the fourth quarter, putting a target score at 157. The final quarter was an untimed battle of wit and will, as the two All Star squads battled in a race to 157 points. It was a unique and intense game, which made it even more special for Nurse, who had coached as an assistant under Dwane Casey a few years prior but now was leading the whole thing.

“There were a lot of little speeches by the players, ‘Let’s set the tone, don’t worry about others playing, let’s make this a competitive game.’ That was going on all through halftime and timeouts,” Nurse said in his post game press conference. “It was an unbelievable group of guys to coach, and for them to care about the outcome as much as they did made it a really special occasion for me and my staff.”

The Chicago showcase also was an avenue to share league-wide appreciation for one of the league’s newest and brightest minds. Raptors guard Kyle Lowry instantly lit up when quizzed on Nurse’s intellectual success. The Raptors are defending champions for a reason, and the Toronto team members have really come to embrace their coach’s quirkiness.

“Nick’s innovative, he’s creative. He’s a brilliant mind,” Lowry said during media day. “He’s not afraid to be wrong; he’s not afraid to be wrong. That’s big for a coach to go out there and not be afraid, to be (himself) and make mistakes. That’s why we are successful. He doesn’t fear anything.”

Lowry continued, “Having Pascal (Siakam) here, my coaching staff, it means a lot. It’s (a) testament to the work we put in.”

Fellow teammate and 2019 Most Improved Player Pascal Siakam is drawn to Nurse’s outgoing personality, as well. It’s something the former Knight has really honed in on over the years, studying ways to reach different styles of personalities.

“He’s good with people, too,” Siakam said during media day. “He’s a good person, and I think all those things together make him great.”

The basketball was the biggest draw, but Chicago also was a melting pot to celebrate the game as a whole. Media members and fans from all over the world flocked to the city shaped by legends such as Dwayne Wade, Kevin Garnett, Derrick Rose and Isaiah Thomas. The game has never been more popular, and the sheer madness across the hundreds of weekend events supported it. Even Nurse noticed the influx of international flair. He himself spent more than a decade coaching various teams in England and even made stints in Italy and Belgium. Nurse, if anyone in the coaching fraternity knows best, truly appreciates the global appeal of basketball.

“It’s awesome to see (the countries represented). It’s what makes it unique,” the coach said this weekend. “The spread of the game and the love of the game worldwide is amazing to see, and it should be that way. Whenever we are out, it’s amazing to see how many great fans there are.”

Overall, Nurse drank in the opportunity to coach an All Star team in the greatest basketball league in the world. Two years ago he was an assistant on one of the top teams in the NBA, and now he’s a leading candidate for coach of the year while guiding the hottest team in the world. Things really do move at a breakneck spread during All Star weekend, but the moment was never lost on Nurse, even as he made dozens of appearances throughout Chicago.

“I think it’s great to be around all of it. The players, the practice, the young players,” Nurse said during media day. “You see a lot of people from around the league. It’s nice to catch up with them and even just talk to them to see what they are doing.”