Pascal “SICKam” Siakam was MAD at Ersan Ilyasova early in this one. Taking it right at him multiple teams with success. Ilyasova can only play defense if he’s taking charges; if he’s not doing that, he’ll get toasted by anyone with speed or strength. Siakam has the speed for sure. Strength, yeah, why not.
Unlike previous Siakam scoring outbursts, this one doesn’t involve his iffy jumper. He took some threes, and I would’ve been mad if any of them had gone in, but they didn’t. I’m still in the mindset of last year where he took a bunch of them and shot them at current-Giannis levels, not the mindset of this year where it’s undetermined if he’s good at them or not. In any case, these points were earned by him playing tough around the rim.
Every time I watch this guy I get a little sad because he represents what Thon Maker could be if Thon Maker wasn’t so bad (ignore his 11 points tonight). He’s got a little ball-handling ability, a little passing, maybe a jumper, and spastic shot-altering ability. All the stuff that Maker is supposed to have, but in a package that contributes to winning basketball on a regular basis.