The Toronto Raptors were defeated in seven games by the Boston Celtics, sending the defending champs home packing and out of the NBA's bubble in Walt Disney World.
One noticeable part of the Raptors' slow demise, culminating in the Game 7 semi-finals loss to the Celtics, was the poor performance of Pascal Siakam. Siakam, 26, a first-time All-Star in 2019-20, hurt the Raptors with a 13-point outing on Friday, shooting 5-of-12 from the field.
Despite Siakam's play, All-Star point guard and teammate Kyle Lowry is encouraged with his mentality and expects the Cameroonian power forward to come back next year with a killer instinct.
Per Chris Haynes in Yahoo Sports (via Bleacher Report):
“I would not be surprised to see him come back even more hungry and destroying people.”
Siakam averaged 17.0 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game in 11 playoff games in the bubble in August and September, shooting just 39.6 percent from the field and 18.9 percent from 3-point range. It wasn't exactly what the Raptors wanted to see when it mattered most, especially for the defending champs who were on pace for a better regular-season record this season than last year, which obviously saw All-Star Kawhi Leonard leading the team.
While Leonard left for L.A. (his Los Angeles Clippers are one win away from a Western Conference Finals berth), many saw the Raptors as still dangerous, especially after the Milwaukee Bucks unceremoniously were bounced in five games by the Miami Heat.
Instead it will be a third and fifth seed facing off between the Celtics and Heat starting on Tuesday with the Raptors watching from home, 2019 ring in hand. How Pascal Siakam responds next season after a bad time in the 2020 playoffs could make or break the young forward's career.
Follow Us
Subscribe