Toronto Raptors fans were probably scratching their heads upon seeing Pascal Siakam on the bench in their loss to the Miami Heat on Wednesday. After the game, head coach Nick Nurse revealed the reason behind his decision to keep one of his top players on the bench in the game's critical minutes.
Per Josh Lewenberg of The Sports Network, Nurse felt that his current lineup without Siakam had enough momentum to close out the game. He also wanted to tweak things a bit especially since it was the second game of a back-to-back.
Unfortunately, this move proved fatal as the Raptors lost 116-108.
In regards to Siakam sitting out the 4th, Nurse said he liked what he was seeing from the group that was on the floor, thought they were hanging in/making runs and wanted to change up the rotation in the 2nd night of a back-to-back, could do that more often in 2nd half of season.
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) February 25, 2021
Pascal Siakam played just 24 minutes, way below his season average of 36.2 per game. He scored a mere five points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field and 1-of-3 from deep. Siakam may have been fatigued since he played over 40 minutes in the Raptors' last two games.
A total of five Raptors players scored in double-digits. This probably made Nick Nurse believe that his team was indeed doing well, even better than the Heat who had a total of six players in double-digits in scoring.
“I thought we outplayed them,” the Raptors added, per the Associated Press via ESPN. “I thought we outplayed them in almost all facets. … The ball just bounced their way a lot.”
It was definitely a bad reading of the game that resulted from bad coaching decisions. Yes, Siakam was having an off night or was probably fatigued, but he is tagged as the Raptors' franchise player for a good reason. When he's on the floor, the team has a better chance of winning.
Follow Us
Subscribe