Pascal Siakam on Embiid’s 4th-quarter antics: ‘That’s on him to celebrate however he wanted’

Following Toronto’s blowout loss in Game 6 to the Sixers, ending the Raptors’ season, Pascal Siakam tried to explain what went wrong in the second half, what it’s like battling against friend and countryman Joel Embiid and how he felt about his taunting in the fourth quarter, what the Raptors can take away from this season, and more.

Video Transcript

- Thank you, everyone. Pascal is here. And as a reminder, we will be [INAUDIBLE] everybody available tomorrow. So we'll start with questions, in here, in English. Thank you.

- Pascal, Nick, over the last few weeks, has talked about, as a young team, kind of you guys experiencing and learning from the highs and the lows of playoff basketball. And you guys experienced a lot of both of those in this series. How much do you think you individually and you guys as a team will be able to take from this experience?

PASCAL SIAKAM: I mean, I think everything, you know? Obviously, we have guys that's been in these situations, but a lot of guys that haven't, also. So, I think just learning from it, understanding. I mean, I think, before the series, like Push was saying, it's going to be up and down. Like, we got to be prepared for it.

I thought we did a job, kind of like, fighting. And, obviously, being down 3-0, that's tough. And then being able to come back to 3-2, give ourselves an opportunity to tie the series. Yeah, man I think we fought hard. But, obviously, we didn't get the outcome that we wanted. But, yeah, we just got to go back and learn from it.

- Pascal, I mean, what happened the second half? [INAUDIBLE] third quarter--

PASCAL SIAKAM: Uh, I mean, to be honest, I don't know. I think, obviously, they were getting-- I was getting double-teamed, trying to make the right plays. I think, I don't know how many 3s they made, but we didn't make any 3s, really. I think once we can't get stops, it's tough. And they play in transition, and they get all their guys to be able to do everything that they do well.

I think just not being able to score in that quarter, and then also, not be able to get any stops. Like, I don't think we did that.

- You have good relationship with Joel. But what's it like to be on the other side when he starts going off [INAUDIBLE] the crowd [INAUDIBLE]

PASCAL SIAKAM: I mean, I think, again, like that's something we know that that's what-- I mean, I don't think there's anything new or anything. It's what he does. And I think that, obviously, for us, it's just, we want to play better. We want to be able to beat them. And I think that, again, we know he's gonna do all the other stuff.

I mean, I think as long as that's him, like that-- I have no problem with it. And I think that, you know, we can do. If we win, right, I guess that's a different story. So, he won, and I think that's on him to celebrate however he wanted. And, you know, I don't I have anything to say about it.

I think, obviously, on the play, I feel bad awful that I hit his face. But, you know, I was trying to make a move. And, yeah, obviously, I apologized to him after that. It's definitely not my intention. And, yeah, I just felt like, to answer your question, if that's how he decides to celebrate, who am I to tell him not to. It is what it is, we lost, that's it.

- It seemed like you had an extended conversation with him after the game there. I know some of the conflict [INAUDIBLE]

PASCAL SIAKAM: Yeah. No, I think, for me, for the most part, I just wanted to know, obviously, the fact that I hit him, for me, I feel awful about it. So, i just wanted to let him know that there was no-- I wasn't trying to do that at all and I was making a basketball move. And definitely that was [INAUDIBLE]. And then, also, just, obviously, we have that competitive spirit, being from the same country. And they beat us, right? And I was obviously congratulating him for that and to kind of move on.

- [INAUDIBLE] receptive to all that?

PASCAL SIAKAM: Say it one more time.

- Was he receptive to all that?

PASCAL SIAKAM: Uh, I think so, yeah. I think we had a good conversation. And, you know, I just hope he's OK. And that's pretty much it.

- Pascal, when you look at the way that they kind of packed the game in this series, and like you said today, you guys couldn't really make 3s. Is that kind of the next step, or one of the next steps, for this team internally, to develop a little bit better as 3-point shooters?

PASCAL SIAKAM: I mean, I think, yeah, we got to develop in a lot of areas. It's definitely one of them. But we got to get better. We got to continue to get better. And I think we took a lot of steps. Like, we got a lot better during the season, as the season was going. It was obviously up and down, but we did get better.

And I think that knowing the team and the identity of the front office and the people that we have and this organization, I know that the goal is to continue to get better. And we're gonna look at all those areas and improve to be a way better team next year.

- Let' see, [INAUDIBLE] said, apologize for not being able to get to your question. I'm gonna finish with three in French. Go ahead, Rafael.

- Pascal, [SPEAKING FRENCH]

PASCAL SIAKAM: [SPEAKING FRENCH]

- Thank you. Go ahead, Cedric.

- What's up, Pascal? [SPEAKING FRENCH]

PASCAL SIAKAM: [SPEAKING FRENCH]

- Thank you, Cedric. And we'll finish with Mike. Go ahead, Mike.

- What's up, Pascal? [SPEAKING FRENCH]

PASCAL SIAKAM: [SPEAKING FRENCH]

- [SPEAKING FRENCH]

PASCAL SIAKAM: [SPEAKING FRENCH]

- Thanks very much, everybody.

PASCAL SIAKAM: Thank you, thank you.