By Canadian Press

Nurse: No rift with Siakam; front office dealing with discipline after outburst

Mar 24, 2021 | 4:56 PM

TAMPA, Fla. — Three nights after Pascal Siakam’s verbal outburst, Raptors coach Nick Nurse says there’s no rift between the two.

The Raptors forward was enraged after sitting out the fourth quarter of Toronto’s 116-105 loss to Cleveland. And while the Raptors said a report that Siakam had been fined US$50,000 was incorrect, Nurse said “the discipline stuff is being worked out with the front office.” 

When asked if he and Siakam had talked since, Nurse said the outburst was already all but forgotten. 

“Yeah, of course I’ve connected with him,” he said ahead of Wednesday’s game against the visiting Denver Nuggets. “As far as I’m concerned, I’m coaching Pascal, It was not awkward one bit coaching him the next night. That’s where we are.”

The Raptors were trailing by 16 points through three quarters on Sunday, and Nurse said he put in “some energy guys” to try to claw back.  

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“It just felt like, on the front end of a back-to-back, I was just coaching to win and trying to think about the game the next night as well,” Nurse said. “And Pascal wasn’t very happy that he didn’t play in the fourth quarter. He expressed those concerns. And that’s about it.”

It didn’t help that the Raptors were mired in a slump, largely related to losing three starters for half a dozen games to COVID-19. 

“I don’t know if (general frustration) has anything to do with it or not,” Nurse said. “Things happen. It’s a hard business, a hard game, it’s hard work, gotta coach ’em hard. 

“There’s all kinds of stuff that’s difficult, and you’re gonna have some bumps here and there.”

The Raptors entered Wednesday’s game on a nine-game losing streak, the longest current futility streak in the league, and had fallen to 11th in the Eastern Conference.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 24, 2021. 

The Canadian Press