Toronto Raptors: Pascal Siakam continues his domination

Every Sunday we bring you the Toronto Raptors Player of the Week. This week’s award goes to Pascal Siakam who has been impressive in the past four games.

After a flurry of moves come trade deadline teams in the East are looking bigger and stronger than ever. Teams like the Milwaukee Bucks and the Philidelphia 76ers traded their way to stronger teams, leaving the Toronto Raptors to do just that. The addition of Marc Gasol was a big one and time will only tell how it plays out. But we can’t predict the future, so let’s stick to the present and in the present, the Raptors have strung together quite a nice win streak under the guidance of budding star Pascal Siakam.

Siakam has earned the player of the week nod yet again after playing another fantastic week of basketball for the Raptors. Siakam has been a force and continues to show his dominance on the court.

Pascal Siakam’s Week

The Raptors quickly got back to their winning ways as they notched win one of their new win streak against the Los Angeles Clippers. After a hot start the Clippers have slowed down recently (even more so now that they’ve traded their best players), opening the gates for an all-out slaughter at the hands of the Raptors. Siakam helped back up Serge Ibaka and Kawhi Leonard on offense as he contributed 15 points and four rebounds to the cause. The game was the least noticeable night for Siakam.

The Raptors brought their winning ways into Philidelphia as they rolled through a supposed ‘powerhouse’ in the 76ers. The late game push from the 76ers wasn’t even as the Raptors proved victorious and Kyle Lowry showed out in front of his hometown fans. Siakam had an all-around solid game as he helped his way through the defensive lineup and added another 16 and six performance.

After a slow start, the Raptors found their footing against the Atlanta Hawks and then didn’t look back. After a flurry of movement, the Raptors were short-handed on the bench and looked all but defeated. But, a career-high 33 points for Siakam help lead the team back in the right direction. He was heavily relied upon as he sliced and diced his way to the net, scoring layup after layup. Siakam had also pulled down a team-high 14 rebounds on the night.

The Raptors brought their road trip to an end at Madison Square Garden as they faced off against the New York Knicks. The Raptors were plagued with yet again another slow start as they struggled to pull away from the Knicks at any part in this game. Although, the dominating storyline tonight was Marc Gasol’s first game with the Raptors, as he scored a serviceable seven points and six on 19 minutes of work. Siakam had an off night, shooting 3 – 13 scoring only ten points and grabbing eight rebounds.

Missed the cut

The return of Kyle Lowry felt like a big story this week as the all-star point guard makes his way back from a back injury. When the five-time all-star is in the lineup the rest of the team seems to fall in place, almost as if controlled by the guard. Lowry has a very special effect on this team and it should be definitely be noted.

Asides Lowry, Serge Ibaka continued his strong play this week, scoring 15 or more points in three of four games. Ibaka is going to be a vital piece in the larger scheme of things, his good play is going to be heavily relied upon. Let’s hope it continues.

Make sure to check out the Raptors Player of the Week every Sunday on RaptorsRapture.com