Raptors fans react to Pascal Siakam’s 52-point night vs. Knicks at MSG

Pascal Siakam and the Toronto Raptors had won just two games in December and lost six straight before their duel against Julius Randle and the white-hot New York Knicks, meaning that the odds were very clearly stacked against them. The Raptors needed a win, as the team’s season remains in dire straits.

While the Raptors are currently too dependent on Siakam at the moment, Nick Nurse had no choice but to put the ball in No. 43’s hands and let him cook. After scoring 25 points in the first half on 11-15 shooting, it looked like Tom Thibodeau and the streaking Knicks had no answers for the Cameroonian star.

The Raptors again seemed determined to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory here, giving up a 13-2 run by New York at the beginning of the third quarter to relinquish a double-digit lead after just three minutes. Amid a tense start to the second half, Siakam took the game over.

Siakam finished the night with 52 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists while shooting 68% from the field. Siakam fell just two points shy of tying the mark for most points ever by a Raptor, and Toronto needed every single one of those points to grab the win.

Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam scored 52 points against the Knicks.

Siakam broke Andrea Bargnani’s Raptors record for most points scored at MSG, blasting the old record of 41 into dust. With Siakam also leapfrogging Bargnani on the team’s all-time scoring list, Pascal is doing everything he can to plaster his name all over the record books.

When Siakam ended the third quarter with 43 points, aided by 17 consecutive, he had nearly outscored the rest of the Raptors as a whole. Considering the quality of the opponent he did this against, this is easily the best game any Raptor has played this year and ranks among the best in franchise history.

Volatile sophomore Scottie Barnes played his worst game as a pro, going 1-10 from the field and looking completely lost on the defensive end. Despite the lack of support he received from his teammates, Siakam was slicing the Knicks’ defense apart.

Siakam became just the fifth player in Raptors history to score 50 points in a game, joining Fred VanVleet, DeMar DeRozan, Vince Carter, and Terrence Ross.

While the Raptors lack depth right now and are below .500, the Pascal Siakam experience is worth pulling up a chair for. If this doesn’t end with an All-NBA appearance yet again, setting himself up for a supermax payday in the process, that will be an injustice of the highest order.