While there were a fair amount of believers who gave the Toronto Raptors a fighting chance against the defending champs, the Golden State Warriors, in the Finals, the general consensus was that this was going to be a cake walk for the Dubs. Well, the Raptors just proved their doubters wrong, as they absolutely dominated the Warriors from start to finish in Game 1 on Thursday night, en route to a very impressive 118-109 statement victory.

Admittedly, the Warriors showed some signs of rust resulting from an extended layoff after they made easy work of the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals. Nonetheless, this does not take away from the fact that the Raptors looked like the much better team in the series opener in pretty much every facet of the game.

A lot of other factors definitely came to play, but one unmistakable fact was made clear on Thursday: Raptors forward Pascal Siakam has arrived, and it is looking like he might just be the X-Factor Toronto needs to actually pull off a historic upset against the dynasty-seeking Warriors.

Stats Make the Man

First off, let's have a look at this from a statistical perspective. On Thursday, Siakam torched the Warriors for a team-high 32 points (on 14-of-17 shooting!), two three-pointers, eight rebounds, five assists, a steal, two blocks, and just two turnovers in 40 minutes of play. This was as impressive a Finals debut we've seen in recent memory, and true enough, the numbers speak for themselves:

  1. Other than Siakam, only Hakeem Olajuwon, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Tim Duncan have scored at least 30 points in their NBA Finals debut.
  2. With an effective field goal rate of 88.2 percent in Game 1, Siakam ranks third all-time in NBA Finals history for a player with at least 30 points.
  3. The last time any other player logged a 30-5-5 with 2 blocks in the Finals was back in 2009 when Los Angeles Lakers legend Kobe Bryant achieved a similar feat.

The list goes on. The point I am trying to make here is that historically, Siakam's tremendous Finals debut is definitely one for the books. This was a special performance from a special player, who played like a seasoned superstar.

What's important to note, however, is that this was not a one-off. Siakam has been killing it for the Raptors all season and all playoffs long, and not even the brightest of spotlights could throw him off his game.

On the season, the 6-foot-9 power forward averaged 16.9 points (on 54.9 percent shooting), 1.0 three-pointers, 6.9 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.7 blocks. He took his game to a whole new level in the playoffs, putting up 19.4 points (on 47.9 percent shooting), 1.4 three-pointers, 7.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.8 blocks in 19 postseason appearances thus far. If Game 1 is any indication of how Siakam intends to ball out in the Finals, then it looks like he is going to be taking his play even a notch higher.

Size Matters

Another factor that Siakam brings to the table is his size; specifically, his length. The 24-year-old has a 7-foot-3 wingspan which he has learned to take full advantage of. This was something Siakam and the Raptors exploited in Game 1, with the Warriors having trouble defending the oversized wing.

Former Defensive Player of the Year winner Draymond Green — despite standing at only 6-foot-7 — is as good as they come, and even with his elite defensive prowess, he too had no answer to Siakam in Game 1. Green himself admitted to his shortcomings against Siakam following the latter's offensive outburst.

Andre Iguodala, Klay Thompson, and even Shaun Livingston (to some extent) are excellent defenders, but when matched up against Siakam (in Game 1, at least), they too struggled to contain the Raptors forward. On numerous occasions, Siakam would just shoot over the smaller defender — something that he has gotten so adept in doing.

The Warriors are the master of playing small ball, and perhaps, Siakam's presence might just force head coach Steve Kerr to make some adjustments in his rotation — a few tweaks that might just give the Raptors the chance to pounce on any sign of uncertainty and unfamiliarity.

Drawing the D

To say that Siakam took the Warriors by surprise would be an understatement. As matter of fact, he took most — if not all of us — by surprise. We all knew how good he was, but very few could have predicted that he would be this amazing against the Dubs.

Towards the latter part of the game, the Warriors reacted by intensifying their collective defense on Siakam. Unfortunately for them, he had already gotten into his rhythm, and all efforts came too little too late for Golden State.

Nonetheless, Kerr is an extremely intelligent coach with an extremely talented coaching staff. They are eventually going to figure out how to contain Siakam. For all we know, this could come as early as Game 2, and his tremendous Game 1 effort could very easily end up as his best performance in the series.

However, aside from the Raptors being able to establish the fact that they will by no means be pushovers against a heavily-favored Warriors side, perhaps the most important takeaway here is how Siakam will be demanding so much attention moving forward.

I'm sure the Warriors had a plan of action against Siakam, but given how this obviously did not work in Game 1, they will need to go back to the drawing board and prepare a new scheme for the rest of the series. By drawing at least a significant part of Golden State's defensive game plan on him, Siakam buys the rest of the Raptors a bit more breathing room.

Ideally, this opens up the game for Kawhi Leonard to do his thing, but given that this is the Warriors, this might be asking for too much for the Raptors. However, Siakam might just be able to give guys like Danny Green, Fred VanVleet, or Normal Powell the freedom to make a significant impact for Toronto on the offensive end.

At the end of the day, Siakam and the Raptors are certainly not getting ahead of themselves. This was just one win — a big one at that — and they will need to do it again three more times before they are able to hoist the trophy at the conclusion of the series. Maybe they'll be able to pull it off. Maybe this is going to be their year. Perhaps all the bold moves they made all season long is going to pay off.

But then again, maybe they won't. Maybe the Warriors just needed to get this loss out of their system, and they end up shifting back to championship mode in Game 2 — especially with Kevin Durant's imminent return on the horizon.

Nonetheless, one thing is clear: Toronto have found an absolute gem in Siakam. He has forced his way into the team's nucleus moving forward, and for all intents and purposes, he has and will continue to play a pivotal role in the Raptors' most important objective in the summer — convincing Kawhi that he is the right man to spearhead something special and thereby, finally placing his signature on that damned extension contract.