ROCK ’EM, SIAKAM!
Raptors win Game 1, send message behind Pascal’s career-high 32
Two years ago, Pascal Siakam was the MVP of the G-League Finals.
On Thursday, he dominated Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
With Siakam dropping 32 points as the hero from humble beginnings, the Raptors stunned the Warriors in front of their rabid Canadian fans, leading for the entire second half of the 118109 victory. It sent the message that the Warriors, who had won eight of their previous nine Finals games, should prepare for a dogfight.
There will be no cakewalk in Canada, especially if Siakam can string together these types of performances.
“Siakam was brilliant, he was hitting shots from everywhere,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said.
Golden State’s sputtering offense clearly missed Kevin Durant, who was sidelined because of a calf strain with no determined return date. There’d been plenty of discussion about the Warriors playing better without Durant, specifically their ball movement as they cruised through the Western Conference Finals. But on Thursday, the Warriors shot 44 percent and committed 16 turnovers. They allowed the Raptors to shoot 51 percent. They needed Durant.
Siakam, meanwhile, hit 14 of his 17 shots and collected eight rebounds with five assists. The frontrunner for the NBA’s Most Improved Player gave Kawhi Leonard (23 points) all the support he needed. Marc Gasol, who fouled out after scoring 20 points, was also key to Toronto’s victory. Kyle Lowry and Fred VanVleet were solid defensively on the perimeter. Still, the result felt in doubt until VanVleet’s 20-foot jumper gave the Raptors a 12-point advantage with 3:21 remaining. The Warriors had recovered from 17-point deficits in their last three playoff victories, and their high-powered offense is always a few 3-point attempts away from reversing course. The Raptors never let up. They beat the Warriors at their own game by dominating in transition and scoring 24 fastbreak points.
Steph Curry finished with a game-high 34 points for Golden State, including 14 from the foul line, and Klay Thompson added 21 points on 8-for-17 shooting. The ‘Splash Bros.’ were decent. The rest of the roster was atrocious.
Draymond Green, in particular, was a wreck while committing six turnovers. He was outmatched by Siakam, who showed the world he’s ready for the big stage.
“I think it was two years ago when we got bounced out of the playoffs, he literally went in the gym the next day and he was kind of like, ‘Listen, I need to learn how to shoot. I see that in playoff basketball you better be able to shoot to be on the floor,’” Toronto coach Nick Nurse said. “So he went to work that day on his shooting, and I think it changed some mechanics. But that’s a very small thing, he took it and just absolutely ran with it, two, three times a day, every day, just trying to get that part of his game better, right.
“But I’ve heard a lot of people asking him this year, ‘Are you surprised?’ And he keeps saying, ‘No, this is what I’ve always envisioned for myself.’ So I think that’s a powerful statement he makes as well. He believes in himself and he went to work at it.”