TORONTO -- Kevin Durant was long gone by the time the Golden State Warriors' locker room opened after Thursday night's 118-109 loss to the Toronto Raptors in Game 1 of the NBA Finals.

His locker looked well worn, however, because this is where he sat, and paced, as his teammates lost the first game of an NBA Finals for the first time in five seasons.

"I know it's killing him not to be out there," Warriors guard Shaun Livingston said. "He's been very vocal in here. At halftime he was having a one-on-one talk with Stephen [Curry]. Giving him what he sees, his perspective. After the game, he was speaking up amongst the team. He had the floor."

This is all Durant has been able to do since he injured his right calf more than three weeks ago in Golden State's conference semifinals series against the Houston Rockets. Television cameras have caught him venturing out into the hallways to greet his teammates as they come in for halftime or exiting the arena. But except for those rare glimpses, Durant has been nearly invisible.

The Warriors looked so good without him in finishing off Houston and rolling over Portland that it became fashionable to talk about how they could win without him. How differently they play. The joy was back. Sharing (the ball) was caring, again. They looked like the Warriors of old, back when this dynastic run was still young and fresh -- and maybe like the Warriors' future, if Durant leaves as a free agent this summer.

A few brave souls might have even posited that Golden State might be better without him and cited the team's 31-1 record (entering the Finals) when playing with Stephen Curry, but without Durant.

But only the most insufferable Twitter troll would stand on that ground after Thursday's game. Because the Warriors absolutely need to get Durant back if they're going to win this series.

Toronto's defense reminded everyone why Durant has won the past two NBA Finals MVP awards. The Raptors are long, athletic and committed to disrupting Golden State's flow on offense. When teams do that to Golden State, Durant becomes their "Get out of Jail Free" card.

"People don't stop him," Warriors assistant coach Bruce Fraser said. "He either misses or makes shots. But the defense usually has very little to do with it. He's too good."

The defense matters a whole lot when Durant isn't out there, however.

"I think they're actually a lot like our team," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said of the Raptors. "They can switch and guard different positions. They're tough, and they get after you and play well together."

The Warriors have been reminding anyone who would listen how much they needed Durant for the past three weeks. But it was hard to hear that as anything but courting their mercurial free-agent-to-be. If Durant was going to be home, hearing on social media how well the team was playing without him (and taking it personally enough to get into Twitter debates), he could at least keep reading quotes from his teammates and coaches saying how much they missed him.

But that concerted charm offensive wasn't lip service. Privately, the Warriors had been concerned about their chances to beat Toronto or Milwaukee in the Finals if Durant wasn't able to play. They knew they needed him as a failsafe on offense and maybe even more at the defensive end, given potential matchups with Kawhi Leonard or Giannis Antetokounmpo. That need is even more acute with Andre Iguodala battling a calf injury that had him noticeably wincing during Game 1.

While there's some optimism Durant plays at some point in these Finals, his chances to play in Game 2 on Sunday seem quite dim. He only traveled with the team to Toronto to be around the team's medical staff. But he hasn't practiced yet or done much on-court work. His rehabilitation work has mostly been upper-body conditioning and some light lower-body work that's not weight bearing.

If this were the regular season, one Warriors source said, Durant would probably be weeks away from returning to action, as this type of calf injury can easily be reinjured.

But this isn't the regular season, of course. It's the Finals. Perhaps the last Finals this group of Warriors plays in together.

During a fourth-quarter timeout with 7:31 remaining and the Warriors down by 12, Kerr lit into his team with an expletive-laced message. The Warriors were on their way to giving up 24 fast-break points: "For the past five days, the one message we had was, 'Get back on defense. ... This is the f---ing Finals. Get back on defense.'"

Being behind was nothing new for the Warriors. They had faced second-half deficits in three games in the Portland series. But as dominating as Golden State has been during this five-year run, their coach seems aware that they have never been more vulnerable.

That's what happens as a superteam ages, of course. Injuries mount. Key players leave. Depth is harder and harder to build as the star players are rewarded with increasingly lavish contracts. That sense of fragility has hung over the team all season. It's actually become something of a motivator, as those who have lived through this run try to enjoy it as long as possible.

The one thing they all were hoping -- depending on what Durant decides to do this summer -- was to finish strong. And while the Warriors' mantra has always been "strength in numbers," they have always known they are strongest when Kevin Durant is on the court.

ST. LOUIS -- Perhaps St. Louis sports fans will be distracted by the Stanley Cup Final, forgetting that the Chicago Cubs and Kris Bryant will be in town for a weekend series. It's the first time Bryant will be in St. Louis since famously calling the city "boring" during a comedy sketch at the team's annual fan convention this winter.

Hoping the viral moment will be forgotten could be wishful thinking, though. Bryant and his teammates are prepared to hear it from the loyal Cardinals fan base.

"Of course it's going to be not great," Bryant said with a smile Wednesday. "I hope they boo all of us. We want the games to be a nice rivalry and intense. It's always nice going there to play because there's a ton of people -- a lot of our fans show up, too. It makes it fun.

"There's no hard feelings."

The Cubs have several former Cardinals who can help shed light on what Bryant can expect at Busch Stadium come Friday night, including infielder Daniel Descalso. He played for St. Louis from 2010 to 2014.

"I feel like people were pretty upset with him, especially when Yadi [Molina] defended the city," Descalso said. "They love Yadi over there, so they're going to have his back. They're very passionate."

Not long after the comedy sketch hit the internet, Molina came to his city's defense in a rather aggressive manner. He said "only stupid players and losers" make fun of other cities, setting the stage for another intense season series.

Bryant and Molina saw each other at Wrigley Field when the teams met earlier in the month, but there wasn't much interaction, according to Bryant.

"I don't hate the guy," Bryant said. "I think he's a great player, great catcher and leader of his team. I get over things pretty quick. ... I don't know him, but I can't imagine not saying 'what's up' to him my whole career."

Bryant doesn't want to escalate the rhetoric, but that doesn't mean his teammates aren't having fun with it. The Cubs had the day off in St. Louis on Thursday, meaning Bryant had to find something to do. Some suggested the Gateway Arch, but that's not exactly his thing, as the 6-foot-5 infielder/outfielder is a bit claustrophobic. Instead, Bryant indicated he was just going to look for a good place to eat.

"Need some suggestions, though," he said before the off day.

Adding another layer to the story is Bryant's partner in crime, former Cubs pitcher Ryan Dempster, who also disparaged St. Louis during the comedy bit, claiming he would never have signed there if given the opportunity as a free agent. Dempster is slated to call Friday's game for a Facebook broadcast, so Bryant might not be the only one to feel the wrath of Cardinals fans.

"I might go walk around and say hi to everyone," the almost-always-sarcastic Dempster said in a phone interview Thursday. "I wonder what he went to go do on the off day. Probably fun and exciting."

You could picture the smirk on Dempster's face as he said that final line. He's never been afraid to needle friend or foe, so he has plenty of experience hearing boos.

"I was pretty good at getting booed, even from my home crowd," he said. "I think KB is smart and he'll handle it like he's supposed to."

When informed that Dempster was going to be at the game, Descalso deadpanned, "They should make him trot out there, too."

The former Cubs pitcher suggested a tip of the helmet by Bryant to the fans if the razzing gets really loud, while teammate Kyle Schwarber thinks a simple smile will keep things light and show that the crowd isn't getting to him.

"When we went back to Cleveland in 2017 [after the Cubs beat the Indians in the 2016 World Series], I got booed a little bit," Schwarber recalled. "It's more hecklers than anything, out in left field.

"I think it's cool. You must be doing something right to be booed."

And therein is the reason Bryant garnered so much attention. Former Cub Alfonso Soriano famously told a teammate, "They don't boo nobodies." The bigger the star, the louder the boos.

"Looking back, it was the middle of January, not a whole lot going on," Descalso said of the skit that sparked all this. "[St. Louis fans] liked to boo Brandon Phillips every time he came to the plate over the years, maybe [Bryant] will get the same treatment."

Cubs manager Joe Maddon remembers the first time he was soundly booed. It came from the home crowd on the final day of the season.

"My first really good booing was as interim manager [in 1999]," Maddon said. "Eight and two-thirds innings for Jarrod Washburn, pitching a shutout, at Anaheim. [The visiting Rangers] were pinch-hitting and I brought in Lou Pote to replace Washburn. Jarrod did not appreciate me taking him out. The game had no deciding factor on anything. Retrospectively, I probably would have left him out for at least one more hitter, but I took him out. I was roundly booed by the Anaheim faithful and I kind of liked it. I had never been roundly booed before. I took that as a good sign."

Bryant and the Cubs will take that same approach this weekend, recognizing that they are part of an intense rivalry that sees the Cubs in first place and the Cardinals 4½ games behind them. Bryant would rather focus just on baseball at this point, even if fans this weekend have other things when he steps to the plate.

"I was generally just joking and having a good time with Dempster," Bryant said, reiterating his take from January on the sketch.

Descalso added: "We'll probably laugh at it. We know there is nothing malicious."

Wayde van Niekerk, Sally Pearson, Karsten Warholm, Mutaz Barshim, Katerina Stefanidi and Christian Taylor set to compete in London

Six world champions from London 2017 will return to the scene of their triumphs at the Müller Anniversary Games on July 20-21.

Olympic and two-time world 400m champion Wayde van Niekerk, London 2012 Olympic and two-time world 100m hurdles champion Sally Pearson, world and European 400m hurdles champion Karsten Warholm, world high jump champion Mutaz Barshim, Olympic and world pole vault champion Katerina Stefanidi and double Olympic and three-time world triple jump champion Christian Taylor are the latest athletes announced to compete at the Diamond League meeting in the London Stadium in July, as they prepare to defend their world titles at the IAAF World Championships in Doha later this year.

With 50 days to go until the event, the ‘six from 2017’ were announced on Twitter by some of Britain’s greatest ever athletics stars and celebrities.

Van Niekerk was the first athlete revealed by Britain’s two-time world 110m hurdles champion Colin Jackson.

The South African sprint star will compete over 400m at the Müller Anniversary Games in one of the most highly-anticipated races of the weekend. It will be the first time Van Niekerk, the 400m world record-holder, has raced in the London Stadium since his sensational 400m gold medal and 200m silver medal-winning performances in 2017.

The London stadium is a particularly special venue for Australian hurdler Pearson, who won her Olympic gold medal there in 2012 before once again emerging victorious on this track to secure the 2017 world title, and her Anniversary Games participation was announced by 2012 Olympic and three-time world champion heptathlete Jessica Ennis-Hill.

Norway’s Warholm was announced by former European 400m champion Iwan Thomas, while Barshim was named by two-time Olympic decathlon champion Daley Thompson.

Stefanidi was revealed by British Athletics Couch to 5k ambassador and television personality Nell McAndrew.

The last name to be revealed was triple jump star Taylor, with former Olympic and world 400m hurdles champion Sally Gunnell highlighting his inclusion in the line-up.

“The Müller Anniversary Games is one of the world’s premier outdoor meets and always attracts the best athletes in the world, and I’m very excited that these six champions from the London 2017 World Championships will be competing in the London Stadium on 20-21 July,” said Cherry Alexander, major events director for British Athletics.

“They will be joined by many more top stars, and we will see some spectacular performances as the countdown begins for the world championships later this summer. The Müller Anniversary Games will be an outstanding weekend of entertainment for all the family in the iconic London Stadium and is not to be missed.”

Tickets for the Müller Anniversary Games are on sale at www.theticketfactory.com/british-athletics

Harlequins flanker Alex Dombrandt will start for an inexperienced England XV against the Barbarians on Sunday.

The university graduate, 22, only made his senior debut earlier this season.

England women also play the Barbarians in a historic double-header at Twickenham, with Grand-Slam winning captain Sarah Hunter leading the Red Roses.

Sale forward Josh Beaumont captains the men's side from the second row while Quins' Marcus Smith starts at fly-half.

Northampton's Teimana Harrison is the only full England international to start the non-cap match.

"Alex Dombrandt understands the game and he's still developing his body into a proper Premiership and hopefully international rugby player," England scrum-half Danny Care said on the Rugby Union Weekly podcast.

"Playing the Barbarians at Twickenham in an England shirt - he's said it's a dream come true for him."

Although none of these players are expected to be part of Eddie Jones' World Cup plans at this stage, the England XV coach Jim Mallinder says they have a big chance to impress against a stellar Barbarians line-up.

"This game will be massive for them and you can see their motivation and desire," he said. "They all have really deserved the opportunity this weekend."

Marler in, Cipriani out

Barbarians coach Pat Lam had wanted to include Premiership player of the season Danny Cipriani in his squad, but the Gloucester fly-half was unavailable. Lam took this to mean that Cipriani might be included in England head coach Eddie Jones' World Cup squad.

"I spoke with Danny but he wasn't available. I'm predicting that the players who weren't available - and this isn't guaranteed - will be in their World Cup squads," Lam said.

The former New Zealand international has called up Harlequins prop Joe Marler, who retired from international rugby last year.

Marler has suggested he would return for the World Cup if England desperately needed him. Prop Mako Vunipola has sustained a hamstring injury, but Eddie Jones has other options in Ellis Genge, Ben Moon and Alec Hepburn.

"If they needed me to go out there and help them out, I'd have the conversation with my wife and think about it and say 'yeah all right, I'll help you out'," Marler said.

"If it was an SOS scenario it would definitely be something I'd consider, but they're not in an SOS scenario.

"If they were desperate I would give them a hand, but they're not, so, I'm happy where I'm at. I look forward to watching it as a fan and hopefully they go well."

The Barbarians are an invitational team which has been playing national sides on a regular basis since 1948.

Historic day for Barbarians women

The Barbarians women began life with wins over Munster and the British Army in 2017-18 but only played their first international in April 2019.

This will be the first time England women have faced the side, but injuries have left head coach Simon Middleton without a number of Grand Slam winners.

Bristol Bears hooker Clara Nielson and Harlequin Ladies prop Chloe Edwards could make their first England appearance off the bench.

There is no shortage of experience in a Barbarians side which includes Rochelle Clark, Danielle Waterman and Tamara Taylor, who were World Cup winners with England in 2014, along with Welsh pair Jasmine Joyce and Elinor Snowsill and Ireland's Claire Molloy.

The women's game kicks off at 12:45 BST, followed by the men's game at 15:30.

Highlights will be on BBC Two at 23:30 BST on Sunday.

Line-ups

England women: McKenna; Thompson, Tuima, Reed, Smith; Harrison, Riley; Botterman, Davies, Bern, Aldcroft, Scott, Cleall, Brown, Hunter.

Replacements: Nielson, Perry, Edwards, Galligan, Burnfield, Hunt, Heard, Williams.

Barabarians women: Waterman; Joyce, Wood, Naoupu, Derk; Snowsill, Sue; Clark, Fa'amausili, Ta Ohaere-Fox, Farmer, Dennison, Lavea, Molloy, Itunu.

Replacements: Kerr, Keates, Mignot, Taylor, Gulliver, Casey, Large, Ahki.

England men: Hammersley; O'Conor, Marchant, Williams, Bassett; Smith, Mitchell; Harrison, Dunn, Painter, Stooke, Beaumont, Dombrandt, Curry, Harrison.

Replacements: Taylor, Obano, Hill, Spencer, Ellis, White, Sheedy, Loader.

Barbarians men: Piutau; Adeolokun, Fekitoa, Atkinson, Naiyaravoro; Slade, Webb; Marler, Hibbard, Afoa, Horwill, Vui, Luatua, Louw, Mata.

Replacements: Heffernan, Schoeman, Bealham, Isa, Messam, Williams, James, Nakosi.

Editor's note: This story was originally posted ahead of the 2018 NHL combine. It has been updated.

Josh Norris was lost. After showcasing elite-level athleticism in the dreaded Wingate test at the 2017 NHL scouting combine, he went for a walk. Unlike many of his fellow draft prospects, he did not head to a nearby garbage can to expel whatever was left in his body after the intense exertion required to complete the test.

"I didn't get sick. I definitely felt sick. I probably laid on the ground for 15 or 20 minutes after it," Norris said, noting that the Wingate was the test he'd heard the most about coming into the combine.

His memory is a little fuzzy about how he got from the bike to lying on his back in the hallway beneath the bleachers at Buffalo's HarborCenter. He didn't pass out, but one of the many athletic trainers on hand had to come collect him after a brief, somewhat nervous search for the missing prospect.

The NHL scouting combine can provide the most physically and mentally exhausting days in a draft prospect's season. This week, prospects eligible for the 2019 NHL draft will descend on Buffalo to make their last impressions on scouts and executives from all 31 teams in both physical testing and interviews with individual clubs. Each of the top players eligible for the draft is slated to attend, including likely top-two picks Jack Hughes and Kaapo Kakko.

Norris was one of the standout performers during the physical testing at the 2017 combine, finishing first in five tests and in the top 10 in two more. Coming out of that event, it was clear that Norris was one of the best pure athletes in the class. It's hard to know exactly how much that helped his stock, but as a player thought to be a bubble candidate for the first round, he ended up going 19th overall to the San Jose Sharks.

"You can definitely help yourself at the combine," said Judd Brackett, who is the director of amateur scouting for the Vancouver Canucks, noting that the interview portion is the most important part of the week for his club. This week can help further clarify things for a team, especially since many of the general managers will be even more heavily involved in this part of the process.

"As a group, we expect to be doing a lot of interviewing throughout the year anyway," Brackett said. "In a way, we want to have [the combine interview] be a continuation of where an [earlier] interview left off in front of everybody so we get a good feel for the character, the makeup, what motivates them, what drives them."

The interview process can vary for teams, but some rooms will have a good chunk of a team's amateur scouting staff, the general manager, the assistant GM, various other hockey operations personnel and sometimes even the team president or owner. It's a pretty intimidating environment made more challenging sometimes by the line of questioning as teams look to find what makes certain players tick.

"I think it is important to come in with specific questions that might be triggers for that player or person," Brackett said. "Maybe it was something you saw in how they played or a comment that a coach made. You want to be prepared, but a lot of times the conversation will go a direction and you go with it. Is there a pressure point or a question that maybe you want to touch on and see how they react or what their response is? Absolutely, but it could come natural with a pre-plan or the intention of asking that."

A lot of the questions tend to be centered on a player's on-ice performance and personality, but they can veer off course. Norris recalled one team asking him if he was a "beer or liquor guy," noting that was the one question that caught him off guard and made him chuckle a bit during his own interview process.

Norris said he met with 29 or 30 teams at the combine. As a player who was projected to be on the bubble to be a first-round pick, he knew this event gave him a chance to separate himself a little bit.

"I knew if I could really do well at the testing part of the combine and leave good impressions and show my personality [in the interviews], I knew that would put me in a better spot in the end," Norris said.

Although it matters to the teams and the players, the physical testing portion certainly isn't a make-or-break situation for either.

"The guys that do really well, it's a positive. It shows great athleticism, strength, coordination or advancements in their physical structure," Brackett said. "Guys that don't perform well who maybe have less training or were less physically drilled, it's not a detriment. It could be that they just need more time. As long as they can identify their strengths and weaknesses, and have a plan to address them, I think it's a positive whether you go and blow away the testing or go and struggle a little bit."

The combine also has an important medical element in which players visit with doctors. A little over 10 years ago, the scouting combine might have proved life-saving for one attendee.

David Carle was expected to be a midround pick in the 2008 NHL draft, but irregularities flagged during his combine physical were followed up on by doctors at the Mayo Clinic. It turned out that Carle had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a heart condition that put him at risk of death amid strenuous physical activity. The official word came down the day before the draft. Carle could never play hockey again. The Tampa Bay Lightning selected him in the seventh round anyway, in a bit of a feel-good story. Carle pursued a career in coaching and was named head coach of the University of Denver hockey team in 2018.

With the interviews and medical testing completed away from the public eye, the physical testing portion remains a point of intrigue for hockey fans, if still somewhat mysterious.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the physical testing events that will be happening in Buffalo this week, along with examples of the current NHL players who scored best in their draft seasons since 2009. Past combine figures come via topendsports.com.

Standing long jump

This is one of the more straightforward tests. A player jumps as far as he can from a standing position, with the measurement taken from his heel mark to the jumping line. The best of his three attempts is recorded.

Florida Panthers defenseman Michael Matheson and Buffalo Sabres blueliner Jake McCabe each recorded 119-inch jumps in 2012. Just three years ago, Sabres prospect Brendan Guhle had one of the best jumps ever recorded at 122 inches, which nearly took him off the mat. Liam Foudy of the Columbus Blue Jackets stood out last year, posting a 118.8-inch jump, more than three inches longer than the next closest player.

Jump station

Players will perform three different jumps straight up and down. According to the NHL, "an AccuPower Dual Force Plate system will be used to objectively measure the direction, strength and timing of the three-dimensional forces that a player produces during hockey related movement." The test will also use high-speed camera technology to provide immediate results designed to allow teams to assess movement efficiency, physical performance and injury potential.

Players will perform a vertical jump with an arm swing, a second jump with no arm swing and will finish with a jump started from the squat position. Players will do each jump three times.

In the debut of the force plate in 2018, Foudy was again a standout. He posted the highest vertical jump at 27.65 inches. Nils Lundkvist of the New York Rangers was the only other player who came close with a 26.7-inch vertical. Both players went in the first round. Foudy also placed second in the squat jump at 21.87 inches and first in the "no arm" jump at a whopping 27.81 inches -- over three inches higher than the next closest competitor.

Bench press

Instead of going for reps, players lift 50 percent of their body weight in three repetitions at maximum velocity. A "Gym Aware" device measures a player's ability to produce power, with the results measured in watts per kilogram.

Los Angeles Kings first-rounder Rasmus Kupari was the standout in the new format last year, logging 8.25 watts per kilogram, edging Ty Emberson, who was selected in the third round by the Arizona Coyotes.

Pullups

This is the test that you hear about only when one of the top guys doesn't succeed at it. Sam Bennett, who ended up going third overall to the Calgary Flames in 2014, famously failed to do any pullups at his combine. That was pretty unfortunate timing for Bennett, as that was the first year pullups became part of the event. Casey Mittelstadt, the Sabres' top pick in 2017, produced the same result and even compounded things with only one rep on his bench press test.

In the end, this test isn't going to make or break a prospect, but if you post a zero, it's going to get noticed and, as each prospect found out, widely publicized.

Defenseman Jacob Bernard-Docker, who was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the first round in 2018, had one of the best pullup sessions on record, recording 15 consecutive pullups. Right behind him last year were Edmonton Oilers first-rounder Evan Bouchard and Montreal Canadiens third-rounder Jordan Harris, each with 14.

Aerobic fitness VO2max

The VO2max test has a player on the spin bike for basically as long as he's able to go. The player is also hooked up to a heart rate monitor and wears a mask to measure the amount of oxygen he is utilizing during maximal exercise. The players have to maintain a minimum RPM over the course of the test or they will be stopped by the instructor.

Several current NHL players have excelled in this one. Among those who performed well when it came to VO2max measurements were Sami Vatanen and Tomas Hertl. Players who managed to go longest among their draft-eligible peers include Adam Larsson, Hampus Lindholm, Mirco Mueller, Chris Bigras and Jack Eichel. And 2018 Vegas Golden Knights sixth-round pick Xavier Bouchard posted one of the longest VO2max times in recent combine history with his 16:45 run.

The Wingate

The Wingate is one of the most notorious and feared tests of the combine and is well known for its ability to make these elite athletes lose their lunch. It measures power and a player's fatigue index, but it's also a test of will.

In the past, players had to go all out on this test for 30 seconds as resistance increased. But starting last year, players instead are on the bike for 45 seconds, going all out in an initial spurt of 10 seconds, followed by alternating intervals of rest and five seconds of maximum power.

Aside from Norris, other notable top performers in this test in the past include William Nylander, Alex Galchenyuk, Shea Theodore and Foudy.

After the slight change in Wingate protocol, there was a major increase in mean power output among players. The previous high in that category was 13.8 watts per kilogram. With the new process, all of the top 25 players managed to post a mean power output higher than 15 watts per kilogram. Lightning second-rounder Gabriel Fortier led the way at 17.2 watts per kilogram last year.

There will continue to be some debate about just how much impact the combine can have, but teams will always take more information over less, while also understanding just how much value to put on certain things.

"The game is changing," Brackett said. "Good players are still finding ways to play, no matter the height, weight or strength output. If you're still committed to nutrition and taking care of your body and mind, those are the tools you're bringing to the office every day, but everyone doesn't have to be 215 pounds. There's no recipe for success."

More than 100 NHL draft hopefuls will descend on Buffalo this week to take part in the NHL's annual scouting combine. Despite the large volume of hockey players, there will be no sticks or skates in the building for the largest and final pre-draft event.

Why there is no on-ice component is one of the more common questions from fans. If the players are supposed to be drafted for their hockey skills, wouldn't it be better to see how fast a player skates instead of how many pullups he can do? There are at least a few NHL executives out there and probably even more scouts who wonder the same thing.

These questions have grown a bit louder since the combine was moved to Buffalo four years ago. The on-ice component wasn't even an option at the previous combine spot, a convention center. Buffalo, however, is uniquely set up to handle both the large volume of players and the potential for on-ice testing.

THERE HE IS, mouth agape on the sideline as the camera slowly zooms in on a prolonged expression of disbelief after Fred VanVleet is called for a three-second violation in Game 4 of the Toronto Raptors' first round against the Orlando Magic. There he is again, so animated in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals that he is totally oblivious to Drake applying a reassuring sideline mini-massage to his shoulders, igniting a controversy on the boundaries of celebrities and the proximity of fans to players and coaches.

Now watch him as the Raptors touch down in Milwaukee before Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals, descending from the team plane wearing Beats headphones and with a guitar strapped to his back like Bon Jovi on a world tour. We have discovered coach Nick Nurse through a prism of engaging postseason snippets.

And we haven't even discussed the buffalo plaid suits yet.

So, we wonder about this rookie head coach who has guided Toronto into the Finals, whose nomadic coaching journey included multiple stops in the British Basketball League, a duo of D League incarnations and a three-day stint as associate head coach at Iowa State that netted him hundreds of thousands of dollars (more on that later). The general consensus appears to be this dude is fun.

But you don't reach the NBA Finals just by being fun.

"Well, sure," responds Raptors guard Kyle Lowry. "Nick is very laid-back, very chill -- until you don't play hard."

No one was yukking it up when Nurse assembled his team in the film room the day after an embarrassing Game 1 loss to Orlando in the opening round of the playoffs. Nurse had been so jazzed the night before, he'd barely slept. He'd been ready.

Why weren't his players?

After forward Pascal Siakam bumped into Nurse before the session, he warned his teammates as he slid into his seat: "I could tell right away he was really upset," Siakam says. "You could see it in his face. Very tense. Unlike him. He was already riled up before he walked in."

Nurse, enraged by the subpar effort of a group that included veterans Lowry, Kawhi Leonard, Marc Gasol, Serge Ibaka and Danny Green, spliced together damning examples of Toronto's lackadaisical approach.

"I had 17 clips I was going to show," Nurse says. "I think I stopped at one. I thought they understood how hard we needed to play because it was the playoffs. Apparently, they didn't."

Nurse made it clear he would not tolerate that. He yelled so loud, and so long, that he lost his voice, his players report. His spittle spewed perilously close to the suddenly attentive -- and surprised -- NBA millionaires.

"It wasn't pretty," Nurse says now. "I don't do that very often. It was by far the biggest bullet I used."

"He lit a fire under us," Green says. "We needed it. Orlando prepared us for Philly, which prepared us for Milwaukee. He got us locked in."

And yet, five weeks later, there they were -- after trouncing the Magic in four straight and besting Philly's four-All-Star lineup -- down by 15 at home to the Bucks in Game 6, their inexperience revealing itself. It didn't help that Leonard had blanked on his first seven 3-point attempts. "I'm watching," confesses team president Masai Ujiri, "and I'm thinking, 'No way in hell we're winning this game.'"

With 5:47 remaining in the third and the score 65-52, Nurse called timeout. He reminded the Raptors that they had made up a deficit like this just days before. He implored them to relax. "He was very composed," reports Leonard, who also spoke in the huddle, encouraging teammates to embrace the moment.

Toronto roared back. The Raptors advanced.

"Nobody is giving us a thing," their coach declared. "We've got to take it ourselves."

NICK NURSE WAS born and raised in the city of Carroll, Iowa, some 90 miles northwest of Des Moines. He was the youngest of nine kids, with five older brothers, so competitive with them that it occasionally brought him to tears.

"At some point in your life, you try to self-reflect and ask yourself, 'Why do I want to win so bad?'" Nurse says. "Then you realize, in my house, if you [didn't] get up and start fighting in the morning, you [wouldn't] get any cereal -- or a bowl or a spoon."

When Nurse wasn't grappling for Grape-Nuts, he was absorbing blows from his older siblings in various athletic endeavors. They hardened him, and in 1985 he was the Des Moines Register Athlete of the Year, headed to Northern Iowa to play basketball, the guy who shouted "Follow me!" -- and everyone did.

"When I first took the job at Northern Iowa," explains his former coach Eldon Miller, "I called a team meeting. Five people showed up. Nick was one of them. I could quickly tell from that meeting that the four other guys looked to Nick to speak for them."

Nurse roomed with Greg McDermott, another Iowa boy. They became fast friends and snuck off in their free time to bet on the greyhounds or hustle guys on the golf course in two-ball tournaments.

The two helped lay the groundwork for a resurgence at Northern Iowa that culminated the year after they graduated in 1990 with its first NCAA appearance. Miller identified Nurse as the rare college player who didn't just learn the plays but actually took the time to understand why they made sense. McDermott recalls Nurse's precise shooting regimen, which never wavered. He graduated as the all-time 3-point leader in shooting percentage (.468) -- then plotted a way to stay in the game.

It came in the form of an overseas opportunity with the Derby Storm in the British Basketball League as player-coach. The team traveled to all its games in a creaky white van, but there was a problem: Nurse, at 23, wasn't old enough to secure the rental to take the wheel.

"I had to make my center Martin Ford drive," Nurse says. "He wasn't happy about it, either."

When he wasn't navigating the challenge of coaching players who were as many as eight years older, Nurse attempted to keep the van up and running. One evening after midnight, when it broke down on a deserted, winding road in the British countryside, Nurse took stock of his career choices.

"That was one of those moments that made you scratch your head," Nurse admits. "First of all, you're thinking, 'Where in the hell am I?' and second of all, 'What the hell am I doing here?'"

Regardless, in four years overseas, he compiled a 276-103 record. And during his travels, he came across a young Nigerian player who showed promise for Nurse's former team, the Derby Storm. His name: Masai Ujiri. "All I remember about Nick," Ujiri says, "was that he was really young and, if you listened to the people over there, really brilliant."

Nurse migrated back to the United States and, in 2007, landed a job in his beloved state of Iowa with the Iowa Energy D-League team. His old roommate McDermott was also climbing the coaching ranks, landing a job at Iowa State. Their mutual friends couldn't help but compare.

"I loved every job I had," Nurse says. "People asked me, 'Why aren't you doing something more important?' When I was doing well in the D-League, they were like, 'Why can't you get an NBA job? Or a college job?' I don't think people thought much of what I was doing. That's fine.

"I was learning. Not just X's and O's, but team dynamics."

One of the perks of the D-League was a chance for players to sign up for free continuing education. Nurse became the rare coach who cashed in, taking an online course from Michigan State on interpersonal communication and conflict management.

In 2010, after Nurse had netted a division title for the Iowa Energy, McDermott invited him to be his associate coach at Iowa State.

Nurse jumped at the chance and spent the next 24 hours in meetings and film sessions and booking trips overseas to recruit in England and Greece. The night before he left, he dined with McDermott in an Ames restaurant where the equipment manager showed up with his Iowa State swag -- sweatshirts, pants, polos and sneakers. "I told him, 'Throw it in my office; I'll get it when I come back,'" Nurse recalls.

Three days into his new job, after scouting two prospects in Manchester, England, Nurse got a call from McDermott. Creighton coach Dana Altman had accepted the job at Oregon, and McDermott had decided to replace Altman at Creighton, where his son Doug "Dougie McBuckets" McDermott would join him.

"Those guys from England? Tell 'em you're recruiting for Creighton now," McDermott informed him.

Nurse's head was spinning. Somehow, it didn't feel right. He canceled his trip to Athens, returned to Iowa and talked with Cyclones athletic director Jamie Pollard, who told Nurse that he had a candidate in mind to replace McDermott but that if that person didn't take the head-coaching job, Nurse would be considered for it.

"It was a wild 24 hours," Nurse says. "I had only been hired as the associate coach three days earlier, and now all the media is circling my house thinking I'm the guy."

He wasn't. Pollard tabbed Fred Hoiberg for the job, and suddenly, Nurse was unemployed. After an awkward negotiation, the school gave him a $175,000 buyout.

"He became the highest-paid state employee per day in Iowa history," McDermott says.

"Yeah," Nurse counters, "but I never got my gear."

NICK NURSE BELIEVES most things happen for a reason. Because the Iowa Energy hadn't found a replacement for him yet, he was able to return to his old job -- and lead them to a championship. He won another D-League title with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers in 2013, and Dwane Casey hired him as a Raptors assistant on the strength of his offensive creativity.

"For the short time we were together at Iowa State," McDermott says, "we were running a bunch of different sets with a lot of counters to them. I showed them to Nick once, and I could see the wheels turning. Next thing I know, he's saying, 'How about if we move these two guys over here and invert the bigs..."

"I had been running that stuff for eight to 10 years, and he's tweaking it in a way that I hadn't considered before."

When Ujiri fired Casey last spring, he interviewed a number of candidates, Mike Budenholzer among them. But something kept drawing him back to Nurse, who, in a five-hour second interview at the Beverly Wilshire hotel unveiled his detailed vision for the Raptors, beginning with training camp all the way through to the Finals.

Upon accepting the job, Nurse asked to coach the team's summer league squad. Ujiri warned him that the team was "crap," designed to get OG Anunoby some offensive reps and not much more. "We had no chance from day one," Ujiri says, "but Nick starts ramping these kids up. They're playing so hard, and by the end, he had me so excited about watching them."

And that, according to his players and coaching peers, is the definition of Nick Nurse: a coach with a supple approach to a game that is constantly changing, and an ability to relate to players of all shapes, sizes and bank accounts.

"He's willing to try different things," Siakam says. "A lot of coaches aren't.

"Last year, I wasn't handling the ball. This year, Nick made it a priority. I'm not sure a lot of other coaches would give me that freedom or that trust."

"He's very good at adapting," Gasol says of Nurse. "Some of the things he does are eye-popping. He showed me some rebounding techniques that were really interesting. It sounds simple when you say it, but they make a difference."

While those folks who wanted him to do something "important" are now finally satisfied, Nurse insists basketball is basketball, regardless of the level. Leonard and Lowry are more gifted than his boys from Derby Storm, "but it feels the same to me," Nurse insists. "You learn from all of them."

What we've learned from a pulsating Eastern Conference finals is that Nurse, the offensive innovator, turned the series on its ear with his defensive adjustments. The Bucks ended up scoring just 0.96 points per possession after a made basket in the series, well below their regular-season average of 1.11 (tied for ninth best in the regular season), and Giannis Antetokounmpo, an unstoppable force in the previous round against Boston, was stymied by a wall of Raptors defenders, beginning with the smaller Leonard, Lowry and Green, who absorbed the initial contact from the 7-footer.

"One thing Nick did was challenge us in terms of the physical play," Lowry says. "He made it clear, 'Listen, you have to be here to help. You can't be afraid to get hit.'"

And so it is that the Raptors enter the Finals as heavy underdogs against Golden State, but McDermott is certain that Nurse has conjured up some new wrinkles.

"Nick believes you should throw stuff against the wall and see if it sticks," McDermott says, "because if you aren't throwing anything against the wall, nothing sticks."

Safe to say the guitar-toting, meme-inducing, spittle-spewing coach of the Raptors has found some traction of own. Ujiri claims there's no one (besides Kawhi Leonard) he'd rather have on his side down 15 with the season on the line.

"I say that because Nick really believes," Ujiri says. "So, you believe, too."