The goal for the Raptors season was to bank on continuity, the potential already on the roster, and the unshackling from the growing pains of their cutting edge philosophy. That was a good plan, and depending on how the potential of it all shakes out, it could be great. Only, for this early season game against the Nets, the absence of Chris Boucher and Otto Porter Jr. loomed large. Even Siakam's uber-efficient, masterful triple-double performance couldn't pull the Raptors past their lack of depth.
Siakam's teammates were in awe as he dissected the Nets repeatedly from the mid-post. Fighting off doubles with escape dribbles only to engage once again for an isolation and a bucket; baiting doubles into the point of no return and dishing a dime. Busting out dribble combos, burying jumpers and shaking his head on the way back down the court, as if to say: "you should have known."
After a tremendous performance of his own, Kyrie Irving laid the praise on thick after the game: "This guy was off the charts, and a triple-double is probably going to be happening most nights - I don't wanna say he's gonna average a triple-double - but, I think he has the capability of being a triple-double guy. With how many pieces they have and how well they play through him."
