The Raptors aren’t panicking. Take that for what you will — it’s possible that a 1-4 start to the season with questionable play across the roster outside of Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet should inspire panic. But their heads seem level. Everyone said the right things after the loss. But Toronto absorbed another humiliating loss to the New Orleans Pelicans, this time 120-116. They even positioned themselves to win, staging a massive comeback — all after Pascal Siakam fouled out, mind you — to lead with a minute remaining. But inexcusable fouls doomed the team to another loss.
There’s something up in Toronto. The team has been so good for so long that even a five-game slump is abnormal.
Whatever is happening with the Raptors seems centered about Pascal Siakam. For three games, he played great to start and then faded towards the end, allowing Toronto’s double-digit leads to fall to losses. Then he was suspended for a game. Nobody’s letting the reason slip, and the most information we’ve received thus far has been that “it’s just something we’re trying to work out here a little bit and work it out early in the season and not let it prolong and, again, more just an expectation of how we want to play, not individually how anybody wants to play. But there’s certain standards we want to set and he just needs to get on board with those.”
Nurse declined to elaborate with specifics, whether it was even an on- or off-court issue.
Then Siakam played a dud. His worst yet of the year. He scored 10 points and fouled out for the second game in a row. If you don’t include the game he missed for disciplinary reasons. He finished a game-low minus-16, meaning the Raptors won the minutes Siakam sat by 12 points. Yet after the game, his teammate and coaches, as they have since Siakam started his poor stretch of play in the Orlando bubble, circled the wagons and defended him. They recognized his play, but none criticized Siakam.
“He struggled, no doubt about it,” said Nurse of Siakam. “I thought he had a few decent plays and a few good drives in there but he obviously struggled, half count off rhythm there at both ends a little bit which is getting him in foul trouble, and not letting him be able to finish some plays at the offensive end as well.”
“We’ll work him back in.”
“Obviously, he’s gotta perform better — we all know that, he knows that,” said Fred VanVleet after the game. “But it’s the team. It’s not just him; it’s the entire team… Pascal’s just trying to work himself back out of that and I’m confident that he will. And I don’t think he played that bad tonight, but he just wasn’t in the game with fouls and just out of the rhythm of the game, but he’ll be fine.”
To his credit, Siakam spoke with media after the game. It seems like a small thing, but to hide from media in the days of zoom journalism is far easier than it once was. In the past, a player had to work out for a long time — hours, potentially — to stay out of the locker room until media members tired and went home. Some players choose to shoot, others to lift weights. Call that latter the Kawhi special, if you will. Now a spotlight-dodger has less labour involved. Siakam chose to speak to media.
The conversation centered around the free throw line. Namely, that Siakam has had so many fouls called on him — 17 in the last three games — and so few called in his favour. He attempted only two free throws against New Orleans, bringing his season total to eight. A full three of the five questions Siakam faced were about refs or their domain, either fouls or free throws.
“You want to be on the floor,” he explained. “I’m trying to be on the floor. I’m trying to play. I just feel like every second I was out of the game. For me, being somebody who is an offensive player and driving on the other side, I can understand what a foul is and things like that. I don’t know. I’ve got to watch the film. I’ve got to get better on my side and make sure I don’t get in those situations. At the same time, it feels like you drive on the other side (and get no call), and then on the other side it’s a foul if you touch somebody. I’ve got to get better on my part, figure it out, watch film and do what I can. But it’s definitely frustrating.”
There were some positives in the game, if you’re looking for them. Fred VanVleet played immaculate basketball, scoring 27 points and leading the team in rebounding, with eight. Chris Boucher scored one one off his career high, finishing with 24 points. Realistically, with Eric Bledsoe shooting 4-of-6 from deep and the Raptors finishing a woeful 29.2 percent, the Raptors were a normal shooting variance away from winning the game with ease.
But that didn’t happen. That’s reality in the NBA. No matter how many things went right, or how many silver linings pocket the inside of Toronto’s cloud, the team sits at an uncharacteristic 1-4. In a shortened 72-game season, that’s even more significant than usual. The Raptors aren’t panicking, and that’s good. But until Siakam returns to himself the silver linings don’t matter much. Siakam’s slump, extended to last year’s bubble, has only lasted 25 games, and we have far more evidence that he’s a wonderful player than not. That fact only serves to make his current struggle more inexplicable. The fact of the matter is this, though: until Siakam returns to himself, the team is not built to win basketball games. And with each game that passes, the Raptors are increasingly facing the possibility that Siakam’s triumphant returns is not a ‘when’ but an ‘if.’
