Injuries put Raptors’ Siakam on the hardwood

“Every minute is a battle.” — Pascal Siakam It may seem like Pascal Siakam has been gifted playing time he might not have necessarily earned in this, his rookie season, but Siakam doesn’t see it that way.

Yes, he has been the benefactor of minutes with, first, the injury to Jared Sullinger, and more recently another to Patrick Patterson, but Siakam knows those minutes only last as long as he’s giving the coaches what they ask of him.

If the energy starts to wane or the mistakes start to pile up, Siakam has seen those minutes dry up pretty quickly.

Sunday in Los Angeles with Patterson out, Siakam played a seasonhigh 31 minutes and had one of his better overall games.

He was energetic, maybe even more than he normally is, had a season high in blocks with four and rebounds with 10.

“Well, the energy has been there,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said of his rookie starting power forward. “That’s who he is and that’s why he’s out there, it’s how hard he played. I thought he had some extra energy the other night. I think just knowing we needed him and looking over his shoulder, Pat is not coming in, I thought he did a good job.”

For the season, Siakam is averaging 18.2 minutes a night which despite starting 33 games doesn’t even rank him in the top 15 in minutes played by a rookie this year.

If Casey doesn’t like what he’s getting out of Siakam, he doesn’t hesitate to look elsewhere.

Earlier in the year it meant bigger minutes for Patterson, who despite his non-starting status has always carried the load at the power forward position this season.

With Patterson battling a strained left knee, Casey had to get a little more creative if he’s not happy with Siakam.

“It will depend on matchups, performance, what kind of job he is doing,” Casey said of whether that 31 minutes a night is something we can expect to see more of from Siakam in Patterson’s absence. “I think it is going to be a tag team situation with him and Lucas (Nogueira) at the four some, Jakob (Poeltl) will be in the mix, (DeMarre Carroll) will be at the four some, so you will see a tag team situation.”

Siakam says there is no doubt in his mind that if he wants a run like the 31 minutes he got in Los Angeles, it’s completely up to him.

“I definitely have to earn them,” he said of his minutes. “Coach can decide to go small whenever he wants to or when things aren’t working. You have to still earn it. It’s not a guarantee.”