"As Bad As It Could Get": Nick Nurse Rips His Toronto Raptors Players Postgame

The Toronto Raptors continue on in their mid-season slumber, losers of eight of their last 10 games to drop to 15-20 and 11th spot in the Eastern Conference. And head coach Nick Nurse is, to put it lightly, not happy with his team's effort.

I’ve never seen Nick Nurse rip into his own team like this. pic.twitter.com/xDKJBiT4th

— Sid Seixeiro (@Sid_Seixeiro) December 30, 2022

I don't know if that play tonight gives me much optimism at all. It's pretty unacceptable with the effort we gave... It was about as bad as it could get. 

There was times where we would make a free throw and they’d throw ahead and dunk it on the other end. Plays that can’t happen, or they could happen once every seven years. Like seriously ... We have to get serious about playing harder. 

                                                                —Raptors head coach Nick Nurse

The Raptors dropped a 119-106 decision on home court to the Memphis Grizzlies Thursday night, but the score really flatters the home side. They were never really in the game. 

Injuries have played a role on occasion for the team's poor start this season, with Pascal Siakam missing 10 games, Fred VanVleet and OG Anunoby missing a handful, and Precious Achiuwa and Otto Porter missing large portions of the season. But that's no excuse for the moribund play of late. 

Nurse lamented that the Raptors haven't been "playing to our identity". 

"Just a little bit disjointed right now and we (coaches) got to hang in there and get to work and keep showing (the players) what we're talking about. And hopefully they'll go out there and execute it. They should get tired of this pretty soon and start playing."

Photo: Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports