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Raptors Coach Nick Nurse Finishes 8th in Coach of the Year Voting
It appears Nick Nurse's coaching job with the Toronto Raptors is still flying a little under the radar
Nurse received just two votes for the NBA's Coach of the Year award, a second-place vote and a third-place vote, for a total of four points, the eighth-most of all recipients. It tied him with his former assistant coach Chris Finch, now with the Minnesota Timberwolves who received four third-place votes.
Phoenix's Monty Williams took home the hardware, earning 81 first-place votes and finishing with 458 total points, 188 more than Memphis Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins who came second.
Williams led the Phoenix Suns to an NBA-best 64-18 record this season, a 78.0 win percentage, up from 70.8 in the pandemic-shortened 2020-21 season.
While Nurse's Raptors may not have had the best season in the league, Toronto outperformed its preseason expected win total by 13 games and improved from a 37.5% win percentage in 2020-21 to 58.5% this past season. He led the team while dealing with the most restrictive COVID-19 laws of any NBA city that at times required the Raptors to play without fans in their home arena.
Nurse won the award in 2019-20, his second year with the organization, on the heels of his 2018-19 championship run in Toronto.
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