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When Kia Nurse made her half-court Eurostep buzzer-beater back on June 1 to help the Phoenix Mercury pull off a stunning comeback at the Chicago Sky, she admitted it was her first time ever making a shot from half.
But since then, a funny thing has happened: Nurse has done it again. And again.
Nurse has taken the classic Eurostep going to her left โ plant your right foot going right, cut your body back the other way and bring the ball with you as you do โ and replicated it anytime she takes a shot from mid-court. And itโs come with success, too: she made one in a practice a few days after the June 1 shot in a game, and then made one in back-to-back shootarounds in Los Angeles on June 16 and 18.
โMy half-courts now are automatically Eurosteps because itโs working,โ Nurse told The Next in a recent in-person interview. โI donโt think Iโll use it in a game again but itโs working for my practice shots.โ
The Eurostep-from-half buzzer-beater is clearly the highlight of an up-and-down first half of 2021 for Nurse, whoโs in her first year with the Phoenix Mercury. But perhaps the biggest moment of Nurseโs 2021 wonโt even happen in this hemisphere. Nurse is one of three Canadians in the WNBA who will be joining the rest of Team Canada over in Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Olympics. While Team Canada is already over in Tokyo preparing, Nurse will fly over with Minnesotaโs Natalie Achonwa and Bridget Carleton after this weekโs games to prepare for an Olympic run.
โEvery time you get the opportunity to represent your country, no matter what tournament it is, itโs still an incredible feeling,โ Nurse said. โItโs hard to put words to. Being able to represent your family and all of the sacrifices theyโve made to get to where you are and to be representing a country as great as Canada โย weโre not perfect, but I am proud to be from Canada. Being able to get that call is always great.โ
Nurse has also become one of Canadaโs most marketable athletes ahead of the Olympics, not only recently signing a sponsorship deal to be represented by the Air Jordan brand of Nike but also doing commercials for Doordash Canada, Bell and Tangerine Bank.
But that hasnโt stopped Nurse from being outspoken about some of the issues going on up North, either. Recently, Canada has been going through its own reckoning of sorts with the countryโs past use of residential schools and the discovery of mass graves at them. In Nurseโs eyes, her home country is not any different than the country sheโs working in.
โI think the way this year has gone overall, with the pandemic, and with what has happened in America, Canada is not immune to anything that has been existing in this world,โ Nurse said. โEvery country has its flaws and has some histories itโs not proud of. Obviously, thereโs a lot of work that we need to do as a country to continue to bring awareness but also reconcile a lot of whatโs happened in our past.
โRepresenting Canada can mean a lot of different things for a lot of different people, based on their experiences. We want to be a country for all and equal for all and recognizing that weโve had our flaws and that there are things that we need to change is a big part of that as well.โ
Heading to the Olympics, where theyโll be able to be seen around the globe, represents an incredible opportunity for any athletes who wish to use it. And Nurse isnโt afraid to speak up.
โI think, as a society, weโre a work in progress, right?โ Nurse said. โSports has a unique ability to bring people together, and an event like the Olympics brings the entire world essentially to one stage โ virtually, this year, because of COVID. Having the platform that we do as athletes to continue to provide places where voices need to be heard and using that platform will be important here.โ
Itโs something Nurse and her fellow Canadian Olympic basketball players have already done for their teammates. Longtime Canadian national team player Kim Smith Gaucher had a daughter in March and was told by the IOC that she would be unable to bring her to Tokyo, despite the daughter still being breastfed by Gaucher.
But thanks to Gaucherโs public pleas and the attention brought to the issue by her teammates, the IOC relented and will allow breastfeeding mothers to bring their children to Tokyo. Itโs quite the reinforcement of the power of social media.
โThe internet is a crazy thing,โ Nurse said. โItโs got its benefits, and its drawbacks as well, but I think in the situation that Kim was going through, deciding whether to be a breastfeeding mother or be an Olympian, an absolutely impossible decision to make, we looked and she said, โThe internet hopefully can find some solutions and bring some awareness.โ
โAnd it did bring some change, and now weโre going to have our leader there with us. That just shows you how much every platform matters โ not just if you have a million followers. You can have a small platform and still make a change or still raise awareness and help someone else.โ
Nurse and the Canadian womenโs basketball team will likely have a good-sized platform once they get to Tokyo. Theyโre in Group A, with Serbia, South Korea and Spain and will be considered likely to advance to the knockout round. Canada will be hoping to improve on its back-to-back seventh-place finishes in their last two major international tournaments (the 2016 Olympics and the 2018 FIBA World Championships).
If Team Canada wants to do that, then Nurse will have to be a key part of it. At the halfway point of the WNBA season, though, she admits her game is โnot necessarilyโ where I want it to be. Entering Wednesday, Nurse is averaging 9.1 points on 32.4% shooting (including just 31.7% from deep) for the Mercury.
And while Nurse says sheโs โher own worst critic,โ she admits she could afford to cut herself some slack โย especially since sheโs barely gotten to play alongside Diana Taurasi, who missed a month with a fracture in her sternum.
โIโm not necessarily worried about my shot, theyโve felt good, so just continue to find ways to get it a little bit higher over the rim or have a higher release point,โ Nurse said. โNot the happiest with where it is but not overly concerned about it either, because I know I havenโt played my best basketball yet. And I still am able to play on an incredible team, my teammates believe in me and I believe in everything they do as well.โ
Phoenix head coach Sandy Brondello does, too, and believes Nurse playing well is a vital piece that the Mercury will need to turn their 7-9 season around.
โSheโs got to stay aggressive โย we know sheโs going to start making shots and thatโs obviously going to help us go to the next level,โ Brondello said. โWeโve talked about getting four players in double figures, thatโs when teams are most effective, and weโre no different in that regard. [Missing shots], itโs hard, it gets into your head a little bit. Youโve got to just block it out and focus on what you can control, and thatโs defense and preparing to shoot. Donโt worry about the result right now, worry about the process. Be process-driven.โ
Nurse completely agrees with her coach. And while she said sheโd give herself a C right now for the season, sheโs ready to keep firing away โย for both the Mercury and, in a few weeks, for Team Canada.
โJust continuing to grow each and every day and knowing that, if I can do what I need to on the defensive end โ whether itโs a stop we need or if Iโm guarding one of the top players there on the guard side โ doing my job there and then everything else will start to fall into place as it is,โ Nurse said.
