Toronto Raptors: Stock Take, and Pascal Siakam in the MVP hunt

The Toronto Raptors made a little bit of history this week en route to a perfect week. Whose stock rose and who fell?

Happy Thanksgiving to all of our American friends, first and foremost! Secondly, and technically, more importantly, the Toronto Raptors title-defense just keeps ticking along nicely doesn’t it?

The Raptors were the proprietors of another perfect week this past week, finishing 3-0 with wins against the Atlanta Hawks, Philadelphia 76ers, and the lowly New York Knicks. Admittedly, besides the Sixers, it was a week the Raptors would likely clean up with relative ease.

However, it didn’t start all that easy. The Raptors required a second-half comeback to beat the Hawks on Saturday night after going down by nine by halftime, and in the process, another superb performance by Pascal Siakam as he makes his transition from MIP to MVP in style.

Siakam features heavily in this week’s column – which is more than evident given the title – so we’ll refrain from deep-diving into his performances for now, but let’s just say he was very good.

The two other games were home wins against divisional rivals. Those wins came with a little more glamour than most for two reasons; it meant that the Raptors remain undefeated at home this season and that they now have 33 successive home wins against divisional rivals. A staggering number of wins and a new NBA record.

Against the Sixers, the Raptors showed just how superb their fourth-ranked defense in the NBA really is. The Raptors and, in particular, Marc Gasol held Joel Embiid to a perfectly round zero points on 0-of-11 shooting from the field.