It’s really nice to see, on a night where Giannis Antetokounmpo really sucked, that there was another player doing the same sort of things and being really good. That player’s name? Pascal Siakam. Duh. Who did you think it was going to be? Joel Embiid? Faugh! That guy is good but he’s no Giannis/Siakam.
Siakam has been turning heads this season for miraculously transforming from “just a guy” to “spin move king of Cameroon”. He’s SO MUCH better than last season, and I didn’t see it coming at all. Not even a little bit. I was too busy dissing him for sucking at threes (though he was 0-6 tonight, maybe I wasn’t so wrong to do that) to notice that he was going to become a paint-scoring phenom. There should seriously be an award for players who get way better over the course of one offseason.
Without Kawhi Leonard, the Raptors lost this game against the 76ers badly, and not only that, but even with a career-high-tying scoring night, Siakam lost the mini Cameroonian battle that was going on with him and Embiid. Embiid had 27, though Siakam did make one more shot and would’ve had even more had some of his threes (which are not a bad shot for him anymore) gone in. And I don’t have an exact total on the amount of spin moves each player performed, but Siakam had at least a few.