It’d been almost 4 full years since a player had scored 50 or more in Madison Square Garden. James Harden, in the first month of 2019; before the Raptors were world champions, before the pandemic, poured in 61 points. This year’s Knicks knew it had been some time since the team had allowed the type of bucket-getting that Pascal Siakam subjected them to. In their attempt to run from fate, refusing to foul Siakam with 20 seconds left — and send him to the line to seal his 50-point performance — he recognized the open court ahead of him, and like the gazelle he has always been in courts of the open variety, bounded to the bucket for an And-1. Hoop and the harm. A night cap on one of the best performances of his career. He ended the Raptors losing streak by rolling the boulder up the hill. A Sisyphean task, oxymoronically, completed.
Siakam strode around the court after the game, effervescent and dazzling. From the sweat? From the performance? Who’s to say? His team, however, began plotting immediately. And that’s not even just his teammates, but the Open Gym crew who needed to be there to capture it. Water was the weapon of choice, and they planned to wield it against Siakam.
Water was oddly representative of Siakam’s performance. Let’s appeal to the great Bruce Lee and the art of being water:
“Be Water, My Friend.
Empty your mind.
Be formless, shapeless, like water.
You put water into a cup, it becomes the cup.
You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle.
You put it into a teapot, it becomes the teapot.
Now water can flow or it can crash.
Be water, my friend.”
And when you watch Siakam mixing together the liquid parts of his game with the crashing parts of his game, how could you not see it? Presented with no path forward, water finds a way, and so too did Siakam. Perhaps this is why O.G. Anunoby gleefully chucked water bottles at his superstar teammate? To see if the water would simply return to host? That Siakam would absorb it into himself like the shimmering wave of life that he is.
Six times. Six times, Anunoby beaned Siakam with water bottles that varied in how much water they contained. The first of which bounced off of Siakam’s overjoyed head with an undertone of a thud behind the plastic-y crunch. Many after had hollower sounds to them, but they were nearly drowned out by Siakam’s protests of “YO, YO, CHILL, CHILL. YOOOO, CHILLLL. AYY, YO.“
Like a movie star of old (or new), Juancho Hernangomez swept in to save the day. He restrained Anunoby, so that Siakam could return to drinking in his shower free of plastic.
We’re lucky, truly, that the Raptors have Open Gym. The NBA is an entertainment conglomerate of course, and allowing fans a lens to watch their favorite players through, when they’re in the throughs of pure joy? Tremendous. The weight of the losing streak was lifted for a short time, and done so by their star. Celebrate him, and indulge in the moment, as he indulged in his game for the 3 hours leading up to this.
52 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists. 8-9 from the field in the restricted area. 6-9 across both the short and long mid-range. 16-18 from the free throw line. When the counters were asked of him, he found them. The weapon that allows him the comfort in the middle of the floor, his jumper, was working. He didn’t have to go to it very often, though. As a screener, as a ball handler, the Raptors worked to get Siakam downhill in any form or fashion they could, and he blew up the interior of the Knicks defense. Impossible finishes through contact. Deft, feathery finishes over length. And the overpowering mixture of everything he does well – all at once. The rising tide in the halfcourt, the transition savant, and the problem-solver on defense. A true superstar performance.
And ultimately, these wonderful moments are what Siakam’s excellence affords. All the worries about the future of the team, losing streaks, anything like that? They’re quelled, at least a bit, because Siakam may very well be having the best year of any Raptor who wasn’t Kawhi Leonard. You can quibble if you’d like, but the conversation is there. The Raptors have a home grown star, and that sunlight uncovers what would be otherwise unseen – like Anunoby’s maniacal, hilarious sense of humor. The man who never speaks, now available for everyone to enjoy. At least in some capacity.
Have a blessed day.
