Nick Nurse: 'I Don't Really Give a Crap' About Raptors 2-0 ECF Deficit vs. Bucks

The Toronto Raptors are searching for answers against the Milwaukee Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals, and according to head coach Nick Nurse, self-pity is not among them.

Following Toronto's 125-103 Game 2 loss Friday to go down 2-0 in the series, Nurse was told 94 percent of teams with 2-0 leads in best-of-seven series have won.

"That can't be right," Nurse said, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps. "That can't be right. Check the figures.

"I don't know. How do I find the solace [in that]? ... I don't really give a crap about that. I just want our team to come play their ass off [Sunday night] and get one game and it changes the series."

Bontemps noted teams with 2-0 leads are 51-5 (91.1 percent) in the conference finals and 287-20 (93.5 percent) overall in postseason series.

Raptors All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard had a similar approach to his coach when asked by a reporter, "Where do you go from here?"

"I'm going to Toronto for Game 3," Leonard nonchalantly replied (h/t Yahoo Sports Canada).

The real answer is much more complicated than that. During Nurse's conference call with media Saturday, the first-year coach divulged "more than one lineup change" could be in play, per Sportsnet's Arden Zwelling.

Zwelling proposed that Nurse start Serge Ibaka over Marc Gasol, who has scored just eight points through the first two games of the series on 15 percent shooting.

Context from Zwelling:

His Game [2] performance produced a minus-3.8 game score, tied for his second-lowest ever. The only time in his 868-game career (regular season and playoffs) that Gasol's posted a worse game score was Feb. 5, 2012. He earned a minus-7.0 that night, after going 3-for-14 from the field and committing seven turnovers. Friday's performance was Gasol's worst in seven years and nearly 600 games.

As bad as Game 2 was for the Raptors, their Game 1 loss may sting worse. Toronto wasted point guard Kyle Lowry's best performance of these playoffs. It led for most of the contest behind Lowry and his 30 points (10-of-15 from the field, 7-of-9 from three) before Brook Lopez led the Bucks' comeback in the fourth with 13 of his team-high 29 points.

Lowry has since, it seems, re-aggravated a thumb injury he suffered in Game 7 of the conference semifinals.

"It is what it is at this point," Lowry said following Game 2 (h/t Yahoo Sports Canada).

Regardless, on Sunday, Toronto will have to call back to what worked in Game 1 as it tries to crack Milwaukee's code. The Raptors have come from behind in this postseason run before, rebounding from a 1-0 deficit against the Orlando Magic and a 2-1 deficit against the Philadelphia 76ers. This time, however, they will have to do it against the NBA's only 60-win team.

Game 3 will tip off from Toronto's Scotiabank Arena at 7 p.m. ET.