There are two minutes remaining in a great, then miserable, third quarter for the Toronto Raptors. The Cleveland Cavaliers have to this point been their victim of the evening, pounded for the first 30 minutes of the night by shooting, defense, passing, and everything in between. Donovan Mitchell is bottled and stoppered by O.G. Anunoby. Fred VanVleet is drilling jumper after jumper. Life is pina-colada-on-vacation-with-shades-and-a-Grisham good.
Then a crack shows in the walls Toronto has built around the Land. A leak, dribbling, but one the Raptors must address. The Cavaliers beat the Raptors to a few offensive rebounds and eke out some triples as a result. Robin Lopez takes a charge on Pascal Siakam then banks in a circus fadeaway on the next possession. An O.G. Anunoby turnover in a crowd leads to a Cleveland layup, a Raptors timeout, and Fred VanVleet travel on the ensuing play. The water line is creeping higher.
Then Siakam happens.
He grabs a rebound and pushes in transition, eventually isolating on the wing against a hapless Caris LeVert. The baseline is open, with all other eight players on the other side of the court. The weakside defenders dart into the lane, and out, in, out, like a Zelda puzzle on repeat, waiting to be solved. Siakam spins, seeing how the weak side reacts, then backs back out to the wing. It's a reset, but he can make choices now with awareness on his side. The defense again has to dart out to avoid a three-in-the-key call. Then Siakam attacks again, spins again, but this time is past LeVert. The defense rushes inward to stop him, so he eurosteps into the middle of the key, his sweet spot, and drops in a molasses push shot.
Siakam is the answer. What was the question?
