Nick Nurse calls out refs for missed fouls in Raptors' Game 1 loss

Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse didn’t mince his words when talking about the refs on Saturday night.

The Raptors fell 131-111 in their playoff opener against the Philadelphia 76ers, while losing both Scottie Barnes and Thad Young to injuries.

Asked postgame about the physicality of 76ers centre Joel Embiid — who Nurse recognized before the game that the Raptors didn’t “really have a guy to look him in the eye”, the Toronto coach didn’t appear too satisfied with the refereeing on the night.

Here's Nick Nurse's full comments on Joel Embiid's physicality following the #Raptors' loss to the #76ers:

"I don't care if you're 5'11 and 160 pounds, if you beat him to the spot and he runs you over, it's a foul." https://t.co/oeZV3wwRzf pic.twitter.com/0DKbkifvoq

— Adam Laskaris (@adam_la2karis) April 17, 2022

“A counter to [Embiid’s physicality] is, we’ve got to believe that if we’re legal defensively, they’ve got to call those,” Nurse said.

Toronto shot 23 free throws on the night, while Philadelphia shot 34.

“I don’t care if you’re 5’11 and 160 pounds, if you beat him to the spot and he runs you over, it’s a foul,” Nurse continued. “[Embiid] threw three or four elbows to the face. He got called for one. If we’re legal defensively, we’ve gotta have them called, or we don’t have a chance. Nobody can guard that guy if they’re gonna let him run you over.”

Embiid finished the night with 19 points and 15 rebounds.

“We’re gonna stand in there, and we’ll see if we don’t get a few more of the elbow to the face calls and a few more ‘beat him to the spot’ calls,” Nurse added.

Nurse’s shortest player on the Raptors — Fred VanVleet — was forced to sit after picking up a sixth foul call in the fourth quarter.

“I’m not going to sit up here and say that I didn’t foul anybody tonight. That that would not be true,” VanVleet said. ” I think it’s a kind of tight line, a fine line you’ve got to try to walk. You want to be aggressive and make plays on the ball, but also adjust to the way the whistle’s going.”

But VanVleet said he and his teammates could’ve mitigated what their coach saw as suspect refereeing.

“Whether that was jitters from some of the newer guys or the whistle or whatever the case may be, we’re just a little slow, a little behind. [The 76ers] were more physical, they won the physicality battle,” VanVleet said. “You can argue about officiating all day, but there’s still ways to be physical without fouling. They won that battle tonight.”

Game 2 is set for Monday night, with tipoff at 7:30 pm ET.

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