Pascal Siakam: ‘I Take a Lot of the Blame’ for Raptors’ Loss to Celtics
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Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press
Toronto Raptors star Pascal Siakam said he’s willing to shoulder the blame for the team’s Game 7 loss to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals’ deciding game Friday night.
“Obviously, I have to be better,” Siakam told reporters. “It was definitely a learning moment for me just learning from this experience and just learning that you’ve gotta be ready, and I wasn’t able to help my teammates. I take a lot of the blame, man.”
The 26-year-old New Mexico State product recorded 13 points, 11 rebounds and three assists in the season-ending loss. He made just five of his 12 shots from the field, turned the ball over five times and recorded four personal fouls.
Siakam elevated his game during the initial portion of the regular season before the COVID-19 hiatus began in March, which helped the Raptors overcome the offseason departure of Kawhi Leonard. His continued improvement earned him an All-Star selection for the first time in his career.
The Cameroon native wasn’t quite the same game-changing presence in the NBA’s “bubble.” He scored 15 points or less in nine of the 18 games the team played in Orlando, including just 35 combined points over the final three games of the Celtics series.
Raptors teammate Kyle Lowry shared the advice he’d give to Siakam after the late-season struggles.
“When we got swept by the [Washington] Wizards [in 2015] I read every single article,” Lowry told reporters. “I read every single thing that was said about me—good, bad, evil, terrible, awesome—and I used it as motivation. And that’s what [Siakam] is going to do. That’s the advice I would give him.”
Siakam signed a four-year, $129.9 million contract extension with Toronto in October. It showed the front office views him as a critical building block for the future, and for most of the regular season, he lived up to or exceeded expectations.
He didn’t meet the same standard late in the campaign, but taking Lowry’s advice to use it as motivation for the future should help him come back strong when the 2020-21 season tips off.