Three takeaways from Toronto Raptors crushing Game 5 loss

Kawhi Leonard and Pascal Siakam play terribly

With the exception of a three-minute stretch, Kawhi Leonard was pretty terrible on Monday night. Over the course of the entire game, Pascal Siakam played poorly. When two out of your three best players are that ineffective, it’s extremely difficult to win. It sounds reductive, but sometimes it’s as easy as that.

One of their biggest problems was that neither player could hit a jump shot. Kawhi finished 9-24 from the field, including 2-7 from three. Siakam finished 6-15, including 0-4 from the three-point line. It’s a make-or-miss league, and when two of your star players shoot a combined 38-percent from the field and 19-percent from three, it’s hard for the rest of the team to make it up.

Kawhi, faced multiple double-teams all night. He had a hard time reading coverages, and as a result, was late on many of his decisions. Against a smart, active Warriors team, being late is the same as being wrong. Kawhi turned the ball over five times, typically trying to force the ball in a window which was no longer there.

His teammate, Pascal Siakam, did not fare much better. After missing wide-open looks, he clearly did not trust his jumper. As a result, he forced the ball towards the rim, even when it wasn’t open. It’s fine when Siakam bulldozes Shaun Livingston or even Andre Iguodala towards the basket. When he does it to Draymond Green, it doesn’t work out quite as well.

Kyle Lowry, Marc Gasol, and the role players played great for Toronto. However, if the Raptors want to win a game at Oracle, they can’t have both Pascal and Kawhi no-show like this again.

As bad as things were, Kawhi still didn’t have the worse night on the court. That belongs to Kevin Durant, who we all hope is better soon.