Raptors Coach Nick Nurse Celebrated A Title By Jamming With The Arkells In Toronto On Saturday


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The Toronto Raptors are going to party all summer, and right now it seems no one is having more fun with a championship than Raptors coach Nick Nurse. Forget about the uncertain future of Kawhi Leonard or whether the Raptors can recreate the magic of their title run in the future. Right now, the title is Toronto’s and there’s some rocking out to do.

One of the quirks of a Canadian team winning it all is that they celebrate in some ways that most Americans may not understand as significant. But getting to jam with The Arkells is a pretty cool perk for Raptors coach Nick Nurse. The band is huge in Canada — and American cities within radio waves of the CN Tower in Toronto — which is why it was a pretty big deal that The Arkells brought Nurse out to play while they hosted a sold out show in Toronto on Saturday night.

Lead singer Max Kerman, who’s a big Raptors fan and was spotted at some NBA Finals games in Toronto, introduced the head coach, who came out wearing a slick Arkells ‘Touring Band’ jacket. They then let him play guitar while the band did a cover of Stevie Wonder’s ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours,’ which has been a staple at Arkells shows recently.

Nurse famously brings a guitar with him on the road, but he revealed later that he was pretty nervous about the chance to play in front of a huge crowd on the shores of Lake Ontario.

“I was pretty nervous, to be honest with you. That was a big crowd,” Nurse said. “I was doing a lot off pacing there side-stage as it as coming up.”

Nurse told The Athletic’s Blake Murphy that he hadn’t played in front of a big crowd like that before, and it was Kerman, a seasoned performer, who gave him a boost before he went on stage.

“He was great, he was a good coach,” Nurse said. “They had a little dress change right before they started the little Motown big. He came back on and he put his arm around me and gave me a great raw-raw speech to calm me down and tell me what to do when I got there. It was tremendous, it was a thrill, it really was.”

The crowd really seemed to love Nurse showing up at what was a great party weekend in Toronto with Pride happening the next day. The Raptors threw one hell of a party at their victory parade earlier in the week, and it doesn’t look like the good times are going to stop in Toronto anytime soon this summer.

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