FREE TO FLY AGAIN
Cooler Siakam has had a hand in Raptors’ recent success across the board
It is a mind free of clutter, devoid of negative thoughts and memories of underachieving, that has unblocked Pascal Siakam and allowed him to play some of the best basketball of his career.
He is, by his own admission, tremendously hard on himself in difficult times. But now that he fully accepts things won’t always go his way, he’s been able to thrive as the Raptors continue to improve and rise through the NBA Eastern Conference ranks.
“Sometimes I’m super hard on myself, wanting to be the best that I can be so bad that sometimes you don’t want to have bad games — it feels like it’s the end of the world,” Siakam said Thursday.
“I think I’ve been better mentally, staying even keel and knowing that as long as I put the work in at the end of the day, most of the time good things are going to happen. That’s just the mindset that I have, that positive vibe.
“I think it helps my game overall. I think I focus on being an all-around player, wanting to do everything: rebounding, passing and scoring. I think I can do that.”
He certainly has been.
In eight games since returning from a two-game stint locked away in the league’s health and safety protocols, Siakam has averaged 24 points, 9.8 rebounds and 6.5 assists — elite numbers across the board.
“If you look at his stat line tonight, I mean, he’s 27 (points), seven (rebounds) and seven (assists). That’s all-NBA type numbers,” Phoenix coach Monty Williams said after the Suns beat the Raptors on Tuesday. “He’s not just ball hogging. He’s finding guys and that kind of thing.”
There is a freedom to Siakam’s game now that looks and feels new. It’s got to do a bit with him playing alongside better players, as the Raptors finally have most of their best available for each game, but most of it comes from the way he’s feeling his way through games.
He’s not forcing anything. His passing has never been better, nor has he ever been as willing a distributor, and he’s attached to every game defensively as well. The peace of mind has allowed him to have a significant impact all over the court.
“Everybody tends to focus on the scoring and rebounding, but he’s kind of hitting a lot of other points that are really, really critical — from passing to defending to rebounding to leading,” coach Nick Nurse said.
That leadership and Siakam’s oncourt production will be put the test when the Raptors begin a tough five-game road trip in Detroit on Friday. After three games in four nights — also at Milwaukee on Saturday and Miami on Monday — they’ll finish in Dallas and Washington.
The Raptors have won six of their last seven games and 10 of 15 to move into the top seven in the Eastern Conference approaching the halfway point of their season. That
hot streak will be put to the test.
“I think we’re feeling some building coming on here and … it’s been some weeks now of some pretty solid building and basketball, and learning a lot about the team and the players and the lineups; tough games and matchups and all kinds of stuff,” Nurse said. “I think there’s a lot of guys looking forward to getting out there and seeing what we can do on this trip.”
There is certainly room for improvement. Nurse points to transition defence as one key area, and bench scoring is another. But even though they have been solid overall, they still aren’t able to rely on any semblance of roster normalcy. Scottie Barnes (knee) and Gary Trent Jr. (ankle) are questionable for Friday after missing Tuesday’s loss to Phoenix, and Nurse will likely have to mix and match a second unit again.
“I think we’re all going to have to accept the fact it’s always going to be a work in progress,” Nurse said. “You can sit here and say, ‘Ideally this is what I was going to do,’ but it’s just never ideal.
“There’s always one or two … guys taken off that (backup) unit into the starting lineup and getting shifted around, so you’re back at kind of experimentation mode again and just trying to figure out what’s going to happen.”