Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse has had his fair share of early success in the NBA, his championship ring evidence enough of that sterling first year leading Toronto’s squad.
When it comes to coach’s challenges though, it’s been all goose eggs for the Raptors so far.
The bench boss issued the league’s inaugural challenge during Toronto’s season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday after Norman Powell landed a high elbow on Josh Hart on the way to the basket. The challenge didn’t result in an overturned call, meaning Nurse lost a timeout.
The Raptors saw the challenge rule work against them again in Game 2 against the Boston Celtics on Friday. This time it was the opposition calling for a ruling, with the Celtics getting a call against them overturned.
Nurse weighed in with a candid take on how the new rule has shaken out for him and his side so far in the early season.
“I’m 0-for-2 on challenges and I can’t believe it,” Nurse said, via Sportsnet’s Michael Grange. “I don’t have any idea what I’m doing there. Zero.”
The league installed the coach’s challenge rule this season, allowing coaches to issue one challenge per game for “called fouls, goaltending, basket interference and plays when the ball is knocked out of bounds.” As well, “coaches must have a timeout remaining to use a challenge. The team must call a timeout immediately after the event it would like to challenge. … If the challenge is successful, the team retains the timeout it used to stop play. If the challenge is unsuccessful, it loses that timeout.”
Here’s hoping the third time’s a charm for Toronto’s coach’s challenge woes.
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