Toronto Raptors: Three takeaways from win against New York Knicks, including Pascal Siakam’s dominance

The Toronto Raptors took care of business against a lowly New York Knicks team, improving their record to 12-1. Here are my three big takeaways.

By all accounts, the Toronto Raptors were expected to wallop the New York Knicks. Toronto came into the game with an NBA-best 11-1 record. The Knicks were 4-8 on the year. Toronto is a contender to win the NBA title (as much as anyone is a contender outside of Golden State). New York is a contender for the number one overall pick. Toronto has a team full of all-stars. New York…. well you get it.

So when the Knicks had a lead midway through the second quarter, it was a surprise, to say the least. Eventually, the Raptors would right the ship, and by half, the lead was already up to double-digits.

Toronto cruised through the second half, leading for all 24 minutes.

Here are my three big takeaways

Pascal Siakam‘s dominance

Coming into the game, Pascal Siakam had a streak of seven straight double-digit performances. Saturday afternoon, he not only continued his streak but scored a career-high 23 points.

Setting a career high in scoring is impressive. Even more impressive is the efficiency in which he did it. Siakam hit 6-7 shots, 8-9 free throws, and managed only two turnovers. You know Siakam is feeling it when even the three-point shot is falling; he managed to hit 3-4 against the Knicks.

The one stat to rule them all was Siakam’s insane 107.1-effective field goal percentage. He won’t be this efficient on a nightly basis, but if his jumper starts to fall as it did on Saturday, Siakam can reach near All-Star level production.

The Raptors quick hands

Anyone who has played basketball, even at the pickup level, knows how annoying it is to play someone with quick hands. Toronto has a starting lineup full of players who swipe and swat defensively.

Kyle Lowry, Danny Green, and Kawhi Leonard are all expert level thieves while Siakam and Serge Ibaka hold their own.

Checkout a four-minute sequence of three different Raptors disrupting a play with quick rips.

Danny Green:

Kyle Lowry:

As a side note to opposing guards: Why do you continue to post up Kyle Lowry?

Serge Ibaka

Those type of plays throw off a team’s rhythm and disrupt offenses more than you would think.

Toronto’s really good at it, and it has been a big help in creating a top-ten defense so far this season.

Return of the Mob

After early season struggles, the bench-mob finally broke through on Saturday afternoon. The entire unit (with the exception of junk-time minutes by Lorenzo Brown and Greg Monroe) finished with a positive point differential, and for the first time in a while, they seemed to have their mojo back.

So far this season, head coach Nick Nurse has largely avoided all bench five-man units. Against New York, he scrapped that philosophy, and it paid off big-time. Toronto’s five-man bench unit played 17 minutes together last night and posted a 24.5-net rating. 

It made sense to try to integrate the bench fully with the starting unit. However, production trumps philosophy, and if the bench-unit continues to perform as it did against the Knicks, you can expect Nurse to return to Casey’s “Mob” mentality.