Siakam tunes out the noise
Star rebounds from rough loss with his best game in a long time
of the key and necessary parts of Pascal Siakam’s evolution is well known to him and those who follow his Raptors exploits closely.
He cannot ride emotional waves as much as he does.
He needs to exist as the best players in the game do, on an even emotional plane. He can’t overreact to bad games or get too satisfied with good games, at least not in his own mind. He can’t listen to the noise around him, the polarizing overreaction to every little thing he does, because it will drive him bonkers.
He knows it. He’s spoken about it since training camp began. This past week, he showed it. He had a bad game in Salt Lake City on Thursday night, his worst game of the season in a 119-103 loss. Then he had a tremendous game in Sacramento on Friday night — his best of the year. It was because he’s come to realize fully that what happens one night has to be forgotten by the next morning.
“I always say I’m super tough on myself just because I know the amount of work I put in, and sometimes I can be over-analyzing things,” he said after his 32-point, eight-rebound outing in Toronto’s 108-89 spanking of the Kings in Sacramento. “Talking to guys that (have) been doing it at a high level, one of the things that they always say is just that short memory. Just stay focused, continue to move forward and just flush it out.”
Mastering the emotional ups and downs of a season is going to be a giant step forward for Siakam. In the past, he’s taken losses and bad games far too hard.
They are going to happen to every player in the NBA, and it’s counterproductive to let thoughts of them fester. It’s also counterproductive to pay any attention to the outside chatter, as Siakam has come to know after being excoriated in
some social media circles.
“When you don’t have a good game, you’ve got to bounce back and you’ve got to do it with some assertiveness and some belief. And I thought he came out and just went to work, and it’s as good as he looked in a long time,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said after Siakam when 10-for-12 from the field in Friday’s win.
“(He) made some threes, made some interesting shots, made some tough ones. A lot of good stuff.”
Siakam’s teammates know what he’s capable of, and don’t get overly alarmed by the odd bad game. He’s one of the team’s most dynamic scorers and a solid defender.
His play will determine how this season ultimately plays out.
“If you want to be good or be great in this league, it’s what you have to do,” guard Fred VanVleet said of Siakam’s bounceback game. “I’ve seen him do it before. We’ve done it before. So again, for me personally it’s just as expected. I wouldn’t expect anything less.
“Now 10-for-12 (from the field) — it’s hard to shoot 10-for-12 with no defence sometimes. So for him to do that is impressive, for sure.”
And for him to do it coming off a 2-for-14 shooting night in Salt Lake City even more so.
“I felt like I was running in mud the whole game,” Siakam said of the Jazz game. “It’s tough, and I knew that coming in. It’s just waking up every day, continuing to just push forward, knowing that it’s going to be tough.
“But once I get that rhythm and my legs under me, I know what I can do on the floor. I think I have to focus on that and make sure that my head is straight, kind of like tunnel vision, just looking one way and continuing to go forward.”