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.”
That Siakam performance didn’t make the Raptors unstoppable as a whole, though. Particularly in the late third quarter and early 4th. With 3 minutes and 12 seconds left in the 3rd quarter and a 10-point lead, OG Anunoby, Fred VanVleet, and Scottie Barnes all left the game, leaving Siakam to guide a lineup that featured Koloko-Trent Jr.-Banton-Achiuwa beside him. Achiuwa has been a bit off to start the year, Koloko a rookie, Trent Jr. in a second half funk, and Banton still picking up his dribble above-the-break. Mistakes were made by all (Siakam included) and by the end of the quarter the lead would be closed to 1-point. The missed shots and turnovers were the fuel of a Nets run that featured Nicolas Claxton’s open court finishing above all else.
“I think we just – we were right there – we probably just didn’t execute enough in stretches of the game on offense.” Nurse said after the loss. “Just to get us in a little better flow down there. But, not bad.”
The fourth quarter saw Siakam resting, and Irving hitting the gas. Similar to Donovan Mitchell’s pick n’ roll exploits that nearly put the Raptors under, Irving found space for himself. This was where, despite impressing relative to expectations, Koloko was way in over his head. The Raptors blitzed Irving’s actions, which left Koloko as the low-man against big numbers too often. Those long limbs have been tremendous contesting alongside his teammates, but asking a rookie big man to handle 2-on-1 scenarios is too much. This is where the Achiuwa performance really sticks out, because if he was in form the Raptors could have gotten away with a much more conservative coverage with less gambling and players keeping the play in front of them.
We saw as many ‘Spicy P’ clips in Rico Hines runs as we could possibly see. As a hooper, watching at home, I definitely felt his presence this summer around Los Angeles and I think other guys can say the same. P was putting in a lot of work, and that’s showing for itself. He’s gonna continue to get better.
Kyrie Irving on Pascal Siakam
Basketball is a game of runs, of course, and the Raptors and Nets traded a couple in the early fourth; but the Raptors were still down 12 by the mid-quarter mark. The ball found Siakam’s hands again, and it wouldn’t leave his hands the rest of the game unless he was providing an assist. In five-and-a-half minutes of game time, Siakam went from five assists to eleven. That’s right! More than an assist a minute, and most of them came in clutch time. The Nets bent and broke repeatedly, possession after possession, for fear of what would happen if Siakam held onto the ball. To that point? 14-19 shooting from the floor. Something to be fearful of.
Look at him drag doubles into trouble, abuse defenders at the point of attack, sink the defense, sink it further, and playmake in the space. Many have known that Siakam had easily surpassed the “defend this guy as a team, not with a player” threshold some time ago, but for those who refuse to accept? The alarm bells are ringing. Siakam’s primary defender had little to no effect on him, as he looked past to the second-level before dismantling it. Toronto, you have a superstar, embrace him. Not only that, but you have one of the best shooters in the world next to him, and a bouncy, energetic wunderkind who is willing to cut off of that attention. Hmm, someone should’ve written about that a long time ago.
“He kept making really good reads, right? I think, too, the biggest thing is he played really physical. Right? They were hitting him and banging him, and he just kept on playing through it. Right? And just about every scenario he was getting some type of physical contact at the start, or the middle, or the end, or all three. He either got clearance and finished, or found the kick outs or the little duck-downs, back cuts under as well – he found a couple of those. He made good reads all night.”
Nick Nurse on Pascal Siakam
And after all that? The Raptors come up short. Siakam feels for a moment what LeBron James has felt hundreds of times during his career. To score the hell out of the ball, to adjust and playmake like an MVP candidate. To still lose. He doesn’t clear the Nikola Jokic bar, but Siakam is firmly entrenched as one of the NBA’s absolutely elite frontcourt playmakers. “It makes me feel good, I think that means you’re doing something right.” Siakam said of the doubles and the attention. “For me, that’s how I take it. Just, again, it comes from me being aggressive and setting the tone early. You know, I can get to reads, pass the ball, do whatever I can to get our team in the best position to, you know, have a chance to win the game. So, yeah I just gotta continue to get better at that.”
This serves to hammer home a major part of the Raptors ethos. Length on the court compounds. Talent compounds. Boucher, Porter Jr., Achiuwa once he’s out of this funk – the Raptors are supposed to have options, lineups that disrupt other teams and find their way to winning minutes. They can’t hemorrhage points in these transitional lineups, and expect to win a shootout against the likes of Durant and Irving down the stretch. They need the buffer. Despite exciting developmental plans being laid out for a few of the players we’ve been seeing? They’re still in the early parts of it. There are rarely moral victories for teams that want to threaten the upper echelon of their conference, and the Raptors do, but the least the Raptors can take away from this is Siakam’s undeniable stardom, and faith in their young players to keep pushing to be their best.
We knew the Raptors schedule was tough to start, and this is part of that. The Nets are absolutely a confusing collection of talents and egos, but they can certainly find the space and time to thrive against a Raptors team that is trying to find what substitutions and rotations work best for it. These are Hall of Fame level talents, and they close the Raptors out. By season’s end, though? I think the Raptors can handle this type of business.
Have a blessed day.
