Iowa reporter working on Nick Nurse's beat at NBA Finals



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At the NBA finals, coaches often find themselves facing reporters they have never met. Take the curly-haired reporter who asked Steve Kerr a question after the fifth game. "Steve," said the man, posing in a microphone. "Brandon Hurley with the Carroll Times Herald … "

Carroll, in Iowa, is the home town of the Raptors' coach, Nick Nurse, who has 10,000 inhabitants. Hurley is one of the Times HeraldThe two sports journalists. The paper does not cover many international events, but Hurley convinced his publisher to let him ride his Honda Civic and drive for 14 hours in Toronto. Hurley felt that he had to do it. No member of the NBA press corps has worked so much on the history of nurses. Before this season, few writers knew there was a story of a nurse. "You can call me basically Nick Nurse's defeated journalist," Hurley said.

When I called Hurley on Wednesday afternoon, I thought he would be back at his office in Iowa. He was still in Toronto. If the Raptors win the sixth match, he plans to write a play for the Times Herald about the celebration of victory. "They do not," said Hurley, "I will try to get another AirBnB and stay for the seventh game."

Hurley, who is 30 years old, started working at Times Herald in 2016, after appearances in the Boone and Spirit Lake newspapers. Someone told him that a former high school star Carroll had become assistant coach of the NBA. Hurley got in a car and drove six hours to Indianapolis to write a feature film.

Hurley then became the world's greatest evangelist Nick Nurse. "It's an extraordinary story that must be heard," said Hurley. "That's why I pushed a lot."

In addition to the obvious local attraction of this report – Area Man employs a single-box defense – Hurley appreciated the fact that the nurse treats the press better than other coaches. "I notice it at the high school level," he said. "You'll see the coaches go straight into coachspeak, their eyes will shine, they'll just look through the wall, I'm like," I'm here – look at me. "Nick does not do that. Nice Iowa personality.

Last June, when the nurse replaced Dwane Casey, Hurley summoned her mother, Marcella, for an interview. When Nurse brought his Raptors assistants to town to play golf at Carroll Country Club, Hurley followed suit. (He could not play because he had forgotten his clubs.) In December, Marcella Nurse died while the Raptors were on a swing on the West Coast Road. "The angelic hand of the late Marcella Nurse guided the Canadian baseball club to victory on the road in the City of Angels," Hurley wrote in a statement. Times Herald.

As the nurse went from being a dark assistant to someone whose timing was discussed by Stephen A. Smith, Hurley felt a kind of gentle journalistic pride, I-came-first. His rhythm was now that of the world. After Kawhi Leonard's drummer bounces against the Sixers, Hurley tweetedNick Nurse brings Toronto's Raptors clothes to the Easian Conference finals. A Carroll guy panicked in Iowa … think about it for a moment. When the Raptors beat the Bucks, Hurley switched to uppercase: "SAINT PERING EFFING."

Hurley drove more than six hours in his Civic to Milwaukee to cover games 1 and 2 of the final phase of the Eastern Conference. After sitting next to Stephen A. and Michael Wilbon, he was relieved of any nervousness that he might have had in dealing with big name basketball writers. "The stars were shocked," he said. In the final, Hurley looked like a veteran: he was to complain on journalists asking several questions.

Hurley's trip to Toronto was semi-arduous. The odometer of his Civic has crossed the bar of 100,000 miles. At the Canadian border, he was forced to go out and undergo a background check. he observed The backcountry of southern Canada was as devoid of features as that of Iowa. He thought the Tim Hortons chicken sandwich was disgusting.

Before the fifth game, Hurley ran the court of the Scotiabank Arena to get an idea of ​​the atmosphere. He spotted Frank Molak, a basketball teammates from Nurse High School, wearing a replica of the Kuemper Catholic jersey and chatting with Drake. This is what you call a very good local angle.

After Leonard scored 10 points in the fourth quarter, Hurley left his press headquarters from the upper deck to head for the tunnel. It was the most important sporting moment in Carroll's sporting history since the Lakers team plane lost its way in a snowstorm and landed in a local cornfield in 1960. Hurley just mentioned the fact that the nurse had just called a stop that could have stopped the cold of the raptors. After being stripped of an NBA title by Nurse, Hurley decided to stay in Toronto and cover the event for eventual victory, hopefully.


In Iowa, Hurley works for three newspapers at the same time. He is assistant sports editor of the Times Herald and sports editor of Jefferson Herald and Featured Guthrie County Times. This means he is responsible for a large triangular portion of western Iowa, where it can take an hour to drive between high school games, which Hurley is obliged to cover for the most part. One day last month, the Jefferson Heraldof the sport page had three bylines. All were Hurley.

"It's an absolute job," said Hurley. "Especially in the spring. Spring in Iowa is brutal. We have athletics, golf, tennis, football – and every school has one. All state tournaments seem to be running in turn. You do not have a break.

Hurley faces way press reviews harder than Russell Westbrook. "Ooh, parents," he says. "I do not want to go into too much detail." Well, maybe just a little: last fall, Hurley wrote a story by selecting the Greene County High School football team to win five games. They won eight. "I got mugged because I was wrong," Hurley said. "I'm like, is not it a good thing that I was wrong?"

A couple of high school students who follow Hurley on Twitter have followed him for his dedication to the rhythm of nurses. "It's like," Oh, another tweet from Nick Nurse, "he said," I did not say it, because it would be really petty on Twitter, but I almost want to be like, "Hey, look now, there's a reason I'm pushing this story. "

Hurley lacks baseball and softball for the regular season to cover the finals. "If anyone complains, I will say: there will always be sports in high school," he said. "He can not always be an Iowan in the finals of the NBA."

Whether the nurse wins or loses, Hurley already plans his success at content after the finale. In an ideal world, Hurley would like to restart the School of Nursing podcast they recorded when nurse was still assistant. If Nurse returns to Carroll this summer, Hurley thinks of sitting at Rachel Nichols. "Blow him out of the water," he says. "Just have crazy videos and all that stuff. Just do a huge hype about it. "

Hurley plans to watch the sixth game at Jurassic Park outside of Scotiabank Arena. Although he is pro-rapacious, he understands that seeing the show in person would reward his time on the pace of nurses. "I do not think I want them to lose tomorrow night," Hurley said. "But at the same time, how many people have the opportunity to cover a seventh game in the finals of the NBA?"

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