Rights and wrongs with Toronto Raptors after another discouraging week
Siakam comes up empty-handed after getting benched
There are two wrongs in this one: Pascal Siakam getting benched in the first place and the bounce-back game that didn’t come to fruition. But I’ll focus on the latter as the former was discussed an ample amount already (and if you weren’t aware, Siakam was benched due to disciplinary reasons according to coach Nick Nurse).
The Toronto Raptors decided to sit All-Star Pascal Siakam tonight vs. New York as a disciplinary measure, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Siakam exited the floor early after fouling out Tuesday in Philadelphia.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 1, 2021
It is fair to say that when Nick Nurse benches or calls out a player, that player usually bounces back with a great performance — I fully support Nurse for doing what he did, too often coaches are afraid of holding players accountable.
Unfortunately, Siakam carried his trend of playing poorly in his bounce-back game.
- “Bounce Back” game against Pelicans: 10 PTS/4 REB/1/AST/4-10 FG/0-4 3FG/ team-low minus 16/fouled out
He did have a couple of moves that showed shades of the player he was last year.
Apart from that very good drive and a few mid-range shots, there was not much else that was inspiring in his performance.
However, we shouldn’t be so quick to dismiss Siakam’s abilities. Siakam is clearly struggling but it is good to see a few glimpses of him looking like his old self again. It would also be good for the Raptors to use him as a creator/playmaker again as they did in the first two games. Those were by far his best games of the season and it was very effective in getting a lot of open looks for the team.