Return to all-star form by Siakam not enough as Raptors fall to Pistons

Jerami Grant scored 24 points and the Detroit Pistons scored 34 point fourth quarter to beat the Toronto Raptors 127-121.

TORONTO -- Pascal Siakam is back -- almost.

The Toronto Raptors forward looked like his old all-star, All-NBA self Saturday night as he went off for 25 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists while shooting 9-of-14 from the field.

Unfortunately, he isn’t all the way there as his strong performance wasn’t enough to help the Raptors overcome the Detroit Pistons. Toronto fell 127-121, thanks in no small part to frustrating inability to convert free throws as the home side went just 20-of-31 from the charity stripe.

Siakam was poor from the line, going only 5-for-9.

Everywhere else, however, he was brilliant. He looked strong going to the basket, had the three-point shot going and was making good decisions with the ball.

He looked so good Saturday night that his finishing line was kind of a disappointment as he didn’t record a triple-double, despite nearly having one at halftime with 10 points, seven rebounds and six assists.

“That’s an efficient night to score that many on that, probably missed a few free throws, too,” said Raptors coach Nick Nurse of Siakam. “Twenty-five, 12, 7. Pretty good night. I just thought his activity was good.”

Perhaps most encouraging was the fact he played 35 minutes. He played all of the fourth quarter except for the last 18 seconds after he picked up his sixth foul.

“He was on 35 tonight, what did he play? Geez, I should have snuck him in there for 22 (seconds) more,” said Nurse. "But I think this was it tonight, 35 tonight and 35’s not much of a restriction. They said it’s all go, I think back-to-backs, everything. Off any restrictions now.”

Added Siakam of the minutes restriction likely being lifted: “I'm excited. Yeah, obviously they've been doing an incredible job, like I always said. And throughout the years, they've been really good at that, and I just want to make sure I say that. I trust Alex (McEchnie, the Raptors' vice president of player health and performance), I trust the medical staff, and the job that they've been able to do. There's a lot of experience, and they know what they're talking about.

“And for me, just continuing to trust that process. It's been six long months of just being there, knowing that it's going to be better, it's going to do this, so I'm listening to them, and I think it was good for me, and I'm just over it now.”

As much as the missed free throws hurt the Raptors -- including two missed free throws from Siakam in the fourth quarter alone -- what really seemed to undo them was some uncharacteristic defensive breakdowns in the fourth quarter, leading to many wide-open corner threes for the Pistons.

“We just didn’t come out with much of … just enough,” said Nurse. “We weren’t pressuring the ball near enough so they were pretty comfortable, bunch of missed assignments on things early, going under some shooters and things like that that we don’t normally do, or shouldn’t do.”

Those triples, and some slick clutch baskets from No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham, loomed large.

“He has it and that same it factor that Kyle [Lowry] has,” said Pistons coach, and former Raptors bench boss, Dwane Casey of Cunningham. “He is a natural leader. You don’t have to push him into that role. He kind of morphs into it.”

Despite the loss, though, there was quite a bit of good to come about Toronto’s performance, such as the play of Gary Trent Jr., who had 23 points, as well as that of Goran Dragic, who hadn’t played in the previous nine games before and was asked to fill in for the injured Fred VanVleet. Dragic did so admirably with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting.

Siakam’s big night was the big revelation, however. Though it came in defeat, that he looked that good can only give the Raptors a boost moving forward.

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