All it took was a Bobby Portis pseudo-headbutt to reignite the Toronto Raptors' gritty spirit and awaken them fully from the stupor that accompanies every Dwane Casey-led Detroit Pistons matchup.

Midway through the first quarter, with the Raptors trailing the Milwaukee Bucks 22-7 and looking every bit as lethargic as they had the night prior, Pascal Siakam caught the ball at the right elbow with Portis guarding him. He turned, got a step on Portis, and powered his way to the rim to finish an emphatic and-one, letting loose a roar afterwards.

Portis immediately got into Siakam’s face and the officials leapt between them, preventing any further escalation. But the moment (along with a bunch of other colourful trash talk) had happened, and it activated the familiar fiery stubbornness of the Raptors as a whole. For the remainder of the game, they reverted back to themselves, back to the team that won six-straight games and nearly defeated the Western Conference-leading Phoenix Suns.

“It was early, it was in the first couple plays of the game,” Fred VanVleet told reporters post-game, “so it was time to make a decision if we were gonna allow that or if it was gonna turn us up—I think it turned us up a little bit.

“I love the aggression, I love the way Pascal responded. That’s good old fashioned basketball. I didn’t think it was anything crazy. I like Bobby as a guy, I think he’s a good guy. He competes hard. But it is what it is.”

Siakam, in particular, was brilliant. For large stretches of the game (including the closing minutes), he was the best player on the floor, hitting his open triples, draining midrange jumpers out of pick-and-rolls, crashing the glass, and spraying a cornucopia of wildly impressive passes to teammates wherever they stood.

“He’s been in a pretty good rhythm just in general,” head coach Nick Nurse said, “especially over the last, maybe, six weeks. He just had some good patience, got to some matchups, saw what he could see over some guys and was able to make a lot of good plays. Obviously, he hit some perimeter shots, too, which was huge.”

The result was a 30-point triple-double—making him one of only four Raptors (Fred VanVleet did it just recently) to accomplish the feat. It was also the second triple-double of his career, bumping him up to third-most on the franchise’s all-time list, tied with Jose Calderon and Marcus Camby.

“I just try to come out every night with the same intensity, same energy,” Siakam said. “Tonight I think we all played well, and we were flowing and moving the ball and just playing our brand of basketball.”

And though Siakam was certainly the highlight of Toronto’s night, the team mustered gumption from a number of areas. Indeed, the core trio (Siakam, VanVleet, and OG Anunoby) made up for 71 of the team’s total 103 points, but the likes of Precious Achiuwa (highly impressive defense, especially in the fourth), Justin Champagnie (12 rebounds, six offensive), and Chris Boucher (continuing his run of high-level energy play) provided enough of a lift on the margins that the Raptors were able to sneak away with the victory despite missing three key rotation players in Gary Trent Jr., Khem Birch, and Scottie Barnes.

“That was a heck of a fight, it really was,” Nurse said. “It was a difficult task just in general before the ball even went up. That’s as quick a turnaround as I can remember having in a game.

“It was so nice to be playing again after last night, to get a chance to look at something that wasn’t last night. Incredible execution, especially defensively. They just kept making the right reads, and they hit shots. That’s a big deal when you can get some of these random plays, and random open shots to go down.”

Having rediscovered their true selves after a brief daze is something the Raptors will need to hold onto tightly in the coming days—Monday’s game is against the Miami Heat and, for the first time, one Kyle Lowry.

“It’s gonna be fun, just seeing him,” Siakam said. “I don’t know what his mindset is gonna be, but for us I think it’s just coming in, seeing a familiar face, enjoy the game.”