Toronto Raptors: Top five performances from an emotional week eight

1. Pascal Siakam

Opponent: Brooklyn Nets

Stat line: 30 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks

Three of the Raptors top five performances came against the Nets, showing their improved play during that game. The Raptors had it clicking on all cylinders and it led to multiple impressive performances, particularly compared to their subpar performances in the two prior contests.

Although the Raptors did perform well as a team, it was Pascal Siakam that lead them to the win. Just like Gasol and Powell, Siakam wanted to send a statement and came into this game ready to fire. He scored an impressive 14 points in the first quarter and also assisted on nine points making him responsible for 23 of the Raptors first-quarter points. Siakam carried that scoring performance into the second quarter, dropping another 11 points to end the first half with 25.

With all of the momentum clearly in Toronto’s favor and with everyone on the team stepping up, Siakam took on less of a scoring load in the second half. He instead did a little bit of everything else as he finished the third quarter with four rebounds, two assists, and two points. With the Raptors cruising, Siakam ended his night adding another three rebounds and two points.

Siakam finished week eight with averages of 25.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.7 steals, and 2.3 blocks per game. The big takeaway from this week was the huge block rate. In seven games prior to this week, Siakam was only able to tally three total blocks, so having him tally seven blocks this week alone is a big step in the right direction.

It is scary knowing that Siakam is only 25 years old and has so much more room to develop. The future is bright Toronto fans.