WASHINGTON, June 10 (Xinhua) -- The Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse expected the NBA Finals to be a long series after losing to the Golden States Warriors 106-105 in Game 5 on home floor on Monday.
"We don't really have much choice, and I think that our team has reacted all year long great to bad losses, and I would say it takes a lot to beat this team, and I expected the NBA Finals to be a long series," Nurse said after the game.
"You're just trying to win a game, and you're not thinking about anything other than that. I think you always just got to play out the possessions and do your best to get the best shot you can get. But tonight there were a lot of blows and a lot of balls bouncing the wrong way in the last couple minutes and we came out on the wrong side of it. I'm super proud of the guys. They played their guts out, kept on fighting, and put themselves in position to win it," he added.
Now the Raptors lead 3-2 overall and Game 6 will be held in Oakland on Thursday.
Kevin Durant, who made a comeback after missing nine games for the Warriors, got hurt again in the second quarter of the game. Nurse said he felt sorry for the superstar.
"I really felt for him, I know he was probably not a hundred percent and he gave it a shot tonight and just made kind of a move on his own and he went down kind of on his own. Without a collision or landing on something, you knew it was probably not good."
"I love watching him play. when anybody goes down you're saddened by it, but when one of the great players like that goes down, it's almost shocking," Nurse said.
