Much has been said about the explosion of Fred VanVleet to evoke the return to business of the Raptors. But Pascal Siakam also has a big part in the Canadians’ “climb” in the standings, as demonstrated again by the night’s match won at OKC.
The Cameroonian interior first showed the way by scoring 15 points in the first quarter to put the Raptors on the right track (22-34).
“I was just aggressive. It’s more or less my mindset, just to attack the spaces that present themselves, take what the defense can give me, see the passing lines and make the right choice when there is a gap that is created”he explained after the meeting.
Aggressive, then collective
More withdrawn thereafter, he nevertheless showed himself to be active by showing another facet of his game, creation, an area in which he flourishes more and more. His five assists thus accompanied the end of the game for Toronto towards a victory without shaking.
“Being aggressive allows me to see what’s going on. If you score I don’t know how many points in the first half, you should expect adjustments. That’s one of the points that I try to improve, to see when the duel comes, and just make the right choice.” he added. “I see this scenario more and more often, so it helps me. To also see on video the choices that the defenses can make, that kind of thing, it’s something I work on every day.
Between the good health of Nick Nurse’s collective and the current form of Pascal Siakam (24.5 points, 11.8 rebounds and 5.8 assists since the beginning of the month), the Raptors, who have never doubted their qualities, are gradually in the process of secure their place in the playoffs. A comeback in particular due to a change of attitude of the team, particularly vis-a-vis the “small” teams of the league.
“We have the experience of the past, when we lost these kinds of matches”, concluded the interior about this strong comeback of his team. “We have this concentration against the very good teams, but maybe we were too relaxed against the teams whose record is not as good. This is a point on which the coach insisted a lot, on the fact of having the same level of concentration for each team that we face. This is what makes the difference between a good team and a very good team. It’s something that we still need to improve.”
Pascal Siakam | Percentage | Bounces | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Season | Team | GM | Minimum | Shots | 3 points | LF | Off | Def | Early | pd | party | Int | bp | CT | Points |
2016-17 | TOR | 55 | 16 | 50.2 | 14.3 | 68.8 | 1.2 | 2.2 | 3.4 | 0.3 | 2.0 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.8 | 4.2 |
2017-18 | TOR | 81 | 21 | 50.8 | 22.0 | 62.1 | 1.0 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 7.3 |
2018-19 | TOR | 80 | 32 | 54.9 | 36.9 | 78.5 | 1.6 | 5.3 | 6.9 | 3.1 | 3.0 | 0.9 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 16.9 |
2019-20 | TOR | 60 | 35 | 45.3 | 35.9 | 79.2 | 1.1 | 6.3 | 7.3 | 3.5 | 2.8 | 1.0 | 2.5 | 0.9 | 22.9 |
2020-21 | TOR | 56 | 36 | 45.5 | 29.7 | 82.7 | 1.7 | 5.5 | 7.2 | 4.5 | 3.1 | 1.1 | 2.3 | 0.7 | 21.4 |
2021-22 | TOR | 39 | 38 | 48.0 | 35.5 | 73.6 | 2.1 | 6.5 | 8.7 | 5.2 | 3.5 | 1.3 | 2.7 | 0.8 | 21.5 |
Total | 371 | 29 | 48.7 | 32.8 | 77.4 | 1.4 | 4.8 | 6.2 | 2.9 | 2.7 | 0.9 | 1.7 | 0.7 | 15.0 |