Fan Duel Toronto Raptors

Morning Coffee – Thu, Dec 22

Siakam is special and doesn't get enough respect | Barnes still struggling | Embiid is an idiot

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Cover Photo by Joe Murphy/NBAE via Getty Images

Raptors-Knicks observations: Pascal Siakam delivers his masterpiece – The Athletic

Their opponent shot 55 percent from the field. They ended up taking 94 shots to their opponent’s 78 because of the twin dominance on the offensive glass and in the turnover column. They shot 26.5 percent from 3-point range. At times, it felt like the coach couldn’t find five players to trust at the same time, forget about the nine or 10 that usually make up a rotation in your standard NBA game.

Sustainable? No, the Raptors’ 113-106 win in New York over the Knicks probably wasn’t that. Coming off a six-game losing streak, the Raptors aren’t likely to care. That the team with the league’s longest active losing streak beat the team with the league’s longest active winning streak — the Knicks had won eight in a row — made this a neat way to end a funk.

Neater still? That Pascal Siakam, whose performance this year has been pristine, didn’t have to put up another gaudy stat line in vain.

LII in the Garden

On a night when Siakam did anything and everything to break their losing streak, I don’t want to spend too much time focusing on his scoring. He was great, scoring a career-high 52 points, and never took his foot off the gas.

His continued insistence on making smart plays is beyond laudable, especially given the way the Raptors have been shooting as a team. In the second quarter, Siakam was looking for Fred VanVleet, who was essentially face-guarded by Immanuel Quickley. He immediately whipped the ball the other way to O.G. Anunoby, who hit a 3.

Who knows how Siakam had the energy to push the ball up the floor late after a Knicks miss, but Siakam doesn’t seem to get tired. The Raptors offence was slumping in the half court, as it has for most of the season, so any opportunity to play with pace has to be seized. He got it to VanVleet, who hit what felt like the first successful clutch 3 from a Raptor in a fortnight. There were misses from Thaddeus Young and Anunoby off equally good plays from Siakam, but the key is in the process.

Siakam took just two of the final 15 field goals for the Raptors upon checking back into the game in the fourth quarter. Still, he never stopped impacting the game. On his first possession of the fourth quarter, he got an offensive rebound and then, fighting for another one, drew a loose-ball foul. His exclamation of “yes sir” was picked up by the microphones. Every bit of his 52-point, nine-rebound, seven-assist night was deeply felt. He became just the 10th visiting player to score 50 or more points at Madison Square Garden.

The Raptors had already wasted a pair of premier Siakam efforts — a 37-12-11 performance in the second game of the year and a 38-15-6 outing Monday in Philadelphia. Good for the Raptors for helping him get over the finish line Wednesday. Siakam deserves even more credit for continuing to give them a chance.

What a player.

52 reasons to smile: Siakam shines on Broadway as Raptors beat Knicks – Sportsnet

“Special players rise to the occasion in the biggest moments, a stage like Madison Square Garden where there’s been so many historic performances, he just put his name in the books as one of those guys,” said VanVleet, who won a G-League title with Siakam when they were breaking in as rookies, an NBA title in 2019 and now shares a spot on the franchise’s all-time scoring list with his teammate.

“It’s just been a lot of fun to play alongside and watch him. When he’s got it going, he’s unbelievable, he carried us tonight on the offensive end of the floor. Just a guy you can give him the ball and get out of his way. They just didn’t have an answer for him.”

Siakam helped them got off to a solid start with a nine-point first quarter to help match the Garden crowd’s energy. He tried to end the game early with a 17-point second quarter that gave Toronto a double-digit lead going into the half.

When the Knicks clawed it all back and were down two midway through the third, Siakam scored another 17 points to give Toronto a seven-point cushion to start the final period. He was sitting on 43 points then, one off his career high and within range of VanVleet’s franchise record of 54 set during the 2020-21 season, or at least joining VanVleet, DeRozan, Vince Carter and Terrence Ross as the only Raptors to have scored 50 points or more in a game.

The difference between the Raptors’ effort on Monday against a red-hot Sixers team and Wednesday against a white-hot Knicks club was that Siakam had more help. VanVleet was strong on both ends and O.G. Anunoby chipped in with 13 and his usual defense. Malachi Flynn was in the closing lineup in place of Scottie Barnes (1-of-10, two points) and hit a pair of timely threes.

Raptors head coach Nick Nurse was speaking before the game about the importance of his team playing to its identity as a scrappy, irritating defensive squad.

“The biggest thing for me is trying to get us back to this defensive team that I wouldn’t say people feared but they at least knew what was coming night to night: a lot of ball pressure, a lot of length, a lot of deflections, a lot of turnovers and all that kind of stuff,” said Nurse. “We got to remember who we are. It’s not quite who we are right now … but that’s where we got to keep striving to try to get back to because that still is our core of identity.”

As good an example as any came in the middle of the second quarter when for a roughly four-minute sequence at the end of the half, the Raptors looked like the Raptors.

VanVleet made a smart hustle play to secure a loose the ball after a jump ball and pitched it ahead to a breaking Barnes, who found the trailing Anunoby for the dunk. Then VanVleet and Barnes doubled Jalen Brunson on the baseline and Siakam made the steal leading to another fastbreak. Shortly after VanVleet doubled Knicks centre Mitchell Robinson to force another turnover, there was another fastbreak dunk by Anunoby. Siakam and Anunoby then followed up with threes and the Raptors were up 14 before taking a 63-53 lead into the half.

The Knicks kept coming back, but Siakam held them at bay, and his teammates delivered when he needed them too.

For the first time in nearly two weeks the Raptors could leave the floor happy.

Knicks can’t stop Pascal Siakam, Raptors as win streak ends – NY Post

“Just given the way I played, I feel terrible,” said the ever-accountable Brunson, who committed five of the Knicks’ 17 turnovers and managed just seven points on 3-of-14 shooting. “It’s unacceptable on my part.”

Randle and RJ Barrett each scored 30 for the Knicks, who were without Quentin Grimes (sprained right ankle). Immanuel Quickley filled in well for him, scoring 20 points and hitting six 3-pointers. Down almost the entire way, and by as many as 11 in the fourth quarter, the Knicks briefly went ahead on a Barrett slam with 3:21 to go.

They had a chance to extend the lead, but Quickley traveled and the Raptors (14-18) got three offensive rebounds on the other end, leading to two of Siakam’s 16 made free throws in 18 attempts. Fred VanVleet (28 points) then hit a 3-pointer in transition, extending the lead to four with 1:35 left.

Referring specifically to the Raptors’ ability to force turnovers and crash the offensive glass, Randle said: “I put it on us. We knew it coming in and we just didn’t execute, so that’s on us. That’s on the players, on the team.”

During the win streak, the Knicks relied heavily on their improved defense, holding five different opponents under 100 points. Siakam had more than half of that on his own, having his way with every defender the Knicks threw at him, from Randle to centers Mitchell Robinson and Jericho Sims. He got hot early, scoring 26 points by halftime, and never really cooled off.

“He’s a heck of a player,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “I thought we were too spread out in the first half. The guy can make shots, but the free throws, I wanna take a look at that, see what we can do better there.”

There was disappointment that the winning streak came to a close, but optimism over what the Knicks accomplished, a belief that those eight straight wins showed the team’s potential. Even on a night when so much went wrong, from Grimes’ absence to the turnovers and the issues on the defensive glass, the Knicks were right there in the end. Now, they want to start a new streak.

“We learned what we’re capable of,” Brunson said. “We just have to keep going.”

Raptors 113, Knicks 106: Scenes from stupid – Posting and Toasting

The New York Knicks fell to the Toronto Raptors 113-106, snapping their eight-game winning streak. That seems pretty stupid of the Knicks. Their fans and people in and around the league have taken notice of how well they’ve been playing the past few weeks. So why go and ruin everyone’s buzz by losing? I just don’t think that was very smart.

Losing is stupid in general; this L was stupid in so many specific ways. First of all, the Raptors entered the game having lost six straight. Their last win came against the L.A. Lakers. Honestly, right? If you’re going to have your winning streak snapped, do it against a proper opponent. Philadelphia on Christmas Day would have been a fine sign-off on this era of good feelings. The game after that is in Dallas, a perfectly cromulent place to lose a game. But losing to a loser team that hasn’t beaten anyone but the league’s most glamorous loser team? Blecch.

The Knicks trailed much of the night, but fought back to take the lead late in the fourth. They had a chance to build on the lead after Fred Van Vleet missed and the Knicks came the other way with a brief numbers advantage. It was obvious Immanuel Quickley, hot from downtown all night, would be open as the trailer, but Julius Randle got a little too complicated trying to set up the simple play and the Knicks ended up called for a turnover. So ultimately it goes down as a fake comeback, which is the stupidest way to lose. Really. I’d rather see the Knicks down 30 at the half and just never make a run than to hurt my heart like this. To be fair these aren’t exactly the same Knicks that ran off the eight straight — Quentin Grimes was out after injuring his ankle yesterday against the Warriors. Ty Jerome: you’re stupid, too.

Never helps when the refs are stupid, and these refs . . . I won’t call them stupid, but you won’t be seeing any of ‘em on Jeopardy anytime soon. Pascal Siakam scored 52, which was shortsighted ‘cuz the next time the Raptors play you know he’s only gonna score like 25, and if he’d just averaged those 77 points equally over two games that’s 38.5 points per game. I bet Toronto ends up missing those extra points next time. Speaking of Toronto’s points: 113? That’s stupid. 113 is a prime number, Einstein. That means you can’t split it in two, which means it has to stand alone. You happy? You got the win but now you have no one to share it with.

This was a stupid loss, and this postgame is stupid too. A smarter recap to follow.

Pascal Siakam drops 52, Toronto Raptors win 113-106 over New York Knicks – Raptors HQ

To say that the Raptors needed every bucket from Siakam tonight isn’t an overstatement. While the headline is a big, gleaming positive one, this game had all the inconsistencies we’ve seen from the Raps in December.

So, what worked besides their future All-Star going nuts? Exhibit A: a zone defense that threw the Knicks out of rhythm during different stretches of the game. Exhibit B: a 28-point performance from Fred VanVleet, who didn’t shoot particularly well at 10-for-24, but had the big shot late to give the Raptors a two-possession lead and seal the win. Exhibit C: stellar defense and 15 points from a quickly recovering OG Anunoby, who looked much more sharp tonight in his second game back from injury.

Early on tonight, Siakam’s electric start came as the Raptors started to shake off the rust on offense. By turning the Knicks over ten times in the first half, Toronto was able to create 13 fast break points to New York’s paltry two. They were also able to stay competitive rebounding the basketball thanks to energetic play from Siakam, Anunoby, fifth starter Juancho Hernangomez, and Thad Young — the latter finishing with seven rebounds, three of them on the offensive end. By easing up the usual grind of their half court offense with some easy hoops, the Raptors managed to shoot above 50% in the opening half, while keeping the Knicks’ big weapons mostly in check. Still, RJ Barrett had 19 of his 30 points in the opening 24, and New York stayed in range, trailing 63-53 at the break.

Coming out of halftime, the Knicks showed why they’re one of the top defensive teams in the NBA this year. By going to a zone look themselves, they were able to disrupt the Raptors starters and force them out of character. This was a rough stretch of minutes for Scottie Barnes especially, who stalled offensive possessions by dribbling aimlessly and launching poor percentage long twos. In an up game for the rest of the team, this was another down performance for Scottie, who went 1-for-10 from the field and was benched for Young down the stretch. More on that later.

Back-to-back transition threes from Immanuel Quickley finished a Knicks erasure of the Raptors lead, as they went up 66-65 just a few minutes into the second half. With the offense in the mud again, Toronto treaded water before Siakam got the ball and started to calm things down. Free throws started an avalanche, as Pascal gathered momentum and took off toward the end of the third — putting together the best stretch of individual offense I can remember from a Raptors player since Kawhi headed west. Just look at this!

Taking a five-point lead into the fourth quarter, the Raptors were once again tasked with staying afloat with Siakam resting on the bench.

VanVleet and Anunoby led a second unit with Young, Malachi Flynn and Chris Boucher and, while it won’t win any beauty pageants, the five-man unit did just enough, winning their minutes by one point and giving Siakam a lead to work with when he returned at the eight-minute mark. The closing stretch wasn’t always pretty, as the Raptors started to fall into chaos on the offensive end. Harried possessions resulted in transition opportunities both ways. The difference was simple: Siakam made the Knicks pay, while New York couldn’t generate enough good looks the other way. In the last minute, Julius Randle had the ball slip out of his hands on a sure dunk that would’ve brought the Knicks within two. The Raptors responded by scoring on their next three possessions. That’s your ball game.

Pascal Siakam the fifth Raptor to top 50 points in a game | The Star

“Special players rise to occasion in the biggest moments, a stage like Madison Square Garden where there’s been so many historic performances, he just his name in the books as one of those guys,” VanVleet said. “It’s just been a lot of fun to play alongside and watch him. When he’s got it going, he’s unbelievable.”

The win snapped a six-game losing streak for Toronto and an eight-game winning streak for the Knicks.

Siakam got some help —VanVleet had 28 points, including a dagger three-pointer with about a minute and a half left, and O.G. Anunoby chipped in 15 — as the Raptors finally won a game that hung in the balance down the stretch.

It was a huge win mentally for the Raptors, who had three straight stops after VanVleet’s clutch three-pointer put them ahead 106 -102. After failing to close games four times in their six-game losing streak, crisp execution was a welcome sight.

“Some of these times, you just got to refuse to lose a little bit, you’ve got to have that type of mentality. I though we just had an ounce more energy and fight towards the end of the game to make the key plays,” VanVleet said. “I loved our attentiveness and will to win tonight and that’s something we have to build on going forward.”

It is a search for a style, an identity, the je ne sais quoi that made the Raptors what they were. And for all the issues that have emerged the last three weeks or so, getting that back will do wonders for the rest of the NBA season.

“The biggest thing for me is trying to get us back to this defensive team that I wouldn’t say people feared but they at least knew what was coming night to night,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “A lot of ball pressure, a lot of length, a lot of deflections, a lot of turnovers and all that kind of stuff and we got to remember who we are. It’s not quite who we are right now.”

They had been that defensive team in spurts during their slide and, on Wednesday, they forced 17 turnovers that they turned into 21 points.

Nurse showed a few new wrinkles against the Knicks. Starting a smallish lineup with Juancho Hernangomez as the nominal centre for the second game in a row, Toronto played a fair bit of zone defence for a different look but were tied together most of the night. They took responsibility for what they had to do individually.

“You can get lost in the shuffle of ‘Coach told me to send him left so I just let him go’ versus ‘I gotta guard my guy,’ just lock in and just guard your guy, know your rotations, things like that,” VanVleet said. “I’m sure we’ll start trying a lot of different things because Coach has never been afraid to try new things, he’s gotta keep searching and shuffling.

“As a player, you just go out there and execute whatever game plan they come up with. I don’t have any skin in the game on how we play, I don’t really care that much, as long as it works.”

It did Wednesday as the Raptors held the Knicks to 76 field-goal attempts, which made New York’s 55-per-cent shooting from the field manageable. Toronto had 94 field-goal attempts.

Pascal Siakam Goes for 52 as Raptors Snap Losing vs Knicks – Sports Illustrated Toronto Raptors

It was Siakam and his sidekick Fred VanVleet who carried Toronto home. For the final eight minutes, the two 28-year-olds traded buckets as the Raptors went blow for blow with the Knicks. When New York tied it late, a pair of free throws from Siakam followed by a beautiful find of VanVleet above the break put the Knicks away, snapping their league-leading eight-game winning streak coming into Wednesday night. 

The 50th point for Siakam came courtesy of an And-1 transition layup that he converted in the final seconds before VanVleet ran over with the game ball and a hug for his teammate.

Every time Toronto needed buckets Wednesday night, Siakam was there. He took over in the second quarter, leading a hodgepodge lineup of mid-level rotation players on a 15-5 run that stuck the Raptors to an early double-digit lead over New York. No matter what the Knicks did, they couldn’t solve Siakam’s step-back jumper as he scored 10 straight buckets for Toronto before finding Malachi Flynn in transition for a wide-open three-pointer before New York was forced to call a timeout.

The problem the Raptors have had lately is watching those leads disappear. Four straight misses to start the second half, five straight buckets by New York, and that double-digit lead was gone. Toronto’s defense just vanished, unable to defend the point of attack and surrendering three kick-out three-pointers in the first three minutes of the third as the Knicks recaptured the lead.

That was until Siakam did it again. This time, scoring 17 straight Raptors points to end the third quarter as Toronto traded shots with New York. When he subbed out to start the fourth, the Raptors somehow held their own. The defense clamped down in zone, outscoring New York by two in those four and a half pivotal minutes without Siakam. 

If it’s All-NBA that Siakam wants this season, he’s shown it lately. He joined VanVleet, Terrence Ross, Vince Carter, and DeMar DeRozan as the only Raptors to top the 50-point mark and became just the 18th player to reach the mark playing against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. His 52 finished just two shy of VanVleet’s franchise record of 54 points set in February 2021 against the Orlando Magic.

Siakam’s 52-point night leads Raptors past Knicks | Toronto Sun

Led primarily by Siakam and VanVleet, the Raptors did well to build a 63-53 lead in the first half. But it all came undone when New York responded — likely after some terse words from head coach Tom Thibodeau — with a 12-3 run to open the third quarter.

This team had seen that movie before in losing some close recent games, but Siakam wasn’t willing to allow it to happen again. He dropped bucket after bucket to close the third.

The Raptors held the fort a bit to hold the lead to start the fourth with Siakam getting some well-deserved rest. The all-world big man went right back to work upon his return, but the Knicks would not go away in the thrilling contest.

Siakam tied DeMar DeRozan with his 52-point effort, but ran out of time to catch VanVleet.

Joked VanVleet to reporters afterward: “He knows he’s got some work to do if he’s going to break my record.”

Vince Carter and Terrence Ross, with 51 apiece, are the only other Raptors to top 50 in a game.

Siakam became just the fourth active player to score 50 at the Garden, joining former league MVPs LeBron James, Stephen Curry and James Harden. He’s just the 18th visiting player to reach the mark there.

Siakam was coming off a dominant 38-point game at Philadelphia on Monday.

The only negative for the Raptors was one of the worst games of Scottie Barnes’ career. The sophomore missed 9-of-10 shot attempts and was sat down for the final three minutes of the game after getting out-muscled by Randle for a rebound.

Toronto was without regulars Gary Trent Jr. and Khem Birch, as well as long-time absentees Precious Achiuwa and Otto Porter while Knicks’ solid two-way guard Quentin Grimes, a game-time decision, did not play.

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