Raptors’ Siakam busts out of slump
PHOENIX — Pascal Siakam was named an honourable mention for February’s
East player of the month on Tuesday, but that’s old news already. More important, at least for Siakam and the Toronto Raptors ahead of Tuesday’s game against Phoenix, were the all-star starter’s recent struggles and what he was going to do about them.
Well, turns out he’d dominate, as Toronto snapped a three-game losing streak with a 123-114 win. Siakam finished with 33 points on 12-for-20 shooting, including five three-pointers.
Siakam was in a skid heading in. He had an upand-down game against Milwaukee, then a rough one against Charlotte, followed by one of his worst of the year against Denver (6-for-21 from the field, 1-for-7 from three, with four turnovers). All of those games were losses. It wasn’t just the long shots that weren’t going down though.
“I’m not playing well, obviously. I’m missing a lot of shots, easy stuff, you know, shots I usually make you. I can’t afford to not make those shots and especially when I get in front of the rim, you know, I’ve gotta be able to finish that,” Siakam had said in Denver.
Lately Siakam had been a less willing passer (missing key players like Fred VanVleet, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka had something to do with that) and has tried to force the issue more than in the past.
He’s facing more doubleteams and long, athletic defenders.
Denver power forward Jerami Grant outplayed him on Monday and explained his goal against Siakam was: “Just contain him. Don’t let him get past you. Just stay between him and the basket.”
Siakam’s seen most of this before, of course, and is still developing as a primary scorer, but when the Raptors are losing, which doesn’t happen all that often, his slumps will be magnified.
“It is frustrating, but at the same time, you trust your work. Like, you know, I’m going to continue to do me, I’m going to continue to play hard, and like I said, I got to be better, mentally. It’s gotta be on me. It’s gotta be on me. There’s nobody else. Nobody else is gonna help me,” Siakam said.
Head coach Nick Nurse thought Siakam had been out of rhythm and not getting to his “For sure. I think all of ’em (help Siakam get better shots),” Nurse had said.
Lowry’s solution was to plan to try to get Siakam the ball more in the middle of the floor “and not as much on the sides. I think that’s one thing that will help us. It will give us the space he can see the floor more from the middle,” Lowry said.
“But other than that’s he’s fine,” said the all-star point guard.
Lowry seemed smart when Siakam turned in an outstanding first two quarters on Tuesday, scoring 16 points. Siakam scored at will with a variety of spins and drop-steps and also hit a couple of three-pointers early on.
He just kept on rolling and was easily the best player on the court.
“Pascal walked the walk today,” said Lowry, who had 28 points. Norman Powell had 26 and Chris Boucher 19 off the bench. Devin Booker led Phoenix with 21 points.