While Pascal Siakam was dominating the Bucks in the late third quarter/early fourth quarter, your pal DTB could be found curled up into a ball on the floor, weeping, while Japurri Purrker (my tubby little kitty) meowed at me because he was hungry. For those few minutes as the Raptors started coming back from their twenty-point deficit, Siakam looked unstoppable. Not only did he look unstoppable, he was unstoppable. Unstoppably.
Then Giannis stopped him for the final nine minutes of the game despite playing with five fouls, and what I took to be a guaranteed forty-point game from him ended at 28. To the dismay of Raptors fans all across Canada, nobody else on the Raptors could step up because they were all afflicted with various maladies that prevented them from playing well:
Kawhi Leonard: Thinking about Los Angeles
Kyle Lowry: Counting his thirty million dollars while Raptors fans continue to insist that his three-point shooting will come back soon and we just have to be patient
Jonas Valanciunas: Actually injured
Serge Ibaka: Chronic butterfingers (there is no cure)
So the Raptors ended up losing by double digits anyway because, once Siakam cooled down, none of his teammates heated up in response. I’m not really into NBA storylines, but I would characterize this as a STATEMENT GAME for the Bucks. It was also a STATEMENT GAME for Kawhi. And his statement was “I don’t wanna be here.”