Every Sunday we bring you the Toronto Raptors player of the week. This week belongs to Pascal Siakam, who has been impressive during the last three games.
Yikes. What an awful week for the Toronto Raptors… First, a defeat to a potential first-round matchup in the Detroit Pistons (coached by ex-Raptors head coach Dwane Casey), which was then followed, almost immediately afterward, by a beatdown at the hands of the Houston Rockets. Luckily the week was partially saved when the Raptors blew out the New Orleans Pelicans.
This week’s player of the week honors goes to Pascal Siakam who didn’t have the most explosive games this week but was a constant factor and performed the entire week long.
Pascal Siakam’s week
Siakam was as solid and consistent as any other Raptors’ player this week. As per usual, he played his same firecracker style of basketball, exhausting any defender foolish enough to run with him. But Siakam’s hard work stands out so clearly because how poorly the team played, his consistency throughout the week was a ray of hope in a dark and cloudy week.
With Kawhi Leonard set to rest because of ‘load management’ the Raptors knew they’d have a challenge on their hands. But they clearly weren’t sufficiently prepared on Sunday as they rolled into Motown. The Raptors fell short as they got beat yet again in the first and fourth quarters which eventually led to an overtime victory for the Pistons, something that has been a frequent issue this year. Siakam gave a solid effort as he backed up Kyle Lowry on the stat sheet, scoring 21 points, grabbing nine rebounds and dealing five assists. Lowry was clearly the player of the game but Siakam did a fine job playing support.
Tuesday night versus the Rockets was much of the same for the Raptors as they once again fell short of another victory, Although, barring a few moments, this game was never truly close. Houston wrapped the second quarter with a commanding 22-point lead all the while keeping Siakam largely uninvolved, all signs pointed to a loss. But, the Raptors came out firing during the third quarter, led by Siakam and his 15 point quarter, the Raptors fought their way back. Even grabbing control of the game on a bucket from Siakam to give them a 60-59 lead. Unfortunately, the lead only lasted till the fourth quarter when James Harden went ballistic himself scoring 19.
The Raptors finished off the week by visiting the Big Easy. In desperate need of a win, the Raptors pulled out all the stopped and blew the doors off the Pelicans in a 127-104 routing. It should be noted that the Pelicans were missing both Anthony Davis and Jrue Holiday while facing the Raptors. The game was a solid one as Siakam finished up with 19 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
Who missed the cut?
The only two other candidates this week were Lowry and Leonard. Both players played fantastically but each had a reason to be left out. Lowry had two wonderful games against the Pistons and the Pelicans but was a major non-factor against the Rockets, going 4-16 from the field and 0-5 from deep.
Unfortunately for Leonard, he sat out the game against the Pistons for ‘load management’ which cost him the player of the week accolade. If Leonard had played it would have most likely resulted in a win, moving the Raptors even closer to the first overall seed.