Pascal Siakam: Raptors could have been ‘way more physical’ in Game 1

Pascal Siakam felt everything seemed to be going well for the 76ers in Game 1, and thinks the Raptors need to stay aggressive and physical throughout the entire 48 minutes. He also praised Scottie Barnes for his performance in his playoff debut before he left with an injury in the second half.

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Video Transcript

PASCAL SIAKAM: I think they played well. They made some shots. You know, obviously Maxey played super well. [INAUDIBLE] And yeah, they made open shots. And I think the score 133 is going to be it's going to be hard for us to beat them. So I think-- Yeah, they got going and, you know, the energy, the crowd, everything went in their favor. And yeah, it was tough to guard them when in rhythm. And everything feels like it's going to them. So yeah.

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PASCAL SIAKAM: I think, again, there was loading, there was a lot of helping. I think I didn't get to where I wanted to early on. You know, I think I started to adapt a little bit and adjust as the game was going. But yeah, coming in second game and all that, we got to get to our spot a little quicker. And I have to make sure that I continue to be aggressive throughout the game.

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PASCAL SIAKAM: I mean, I don't know. I mean, we got some quick fouls out there. And yeah, I think we could have been way more physical from the beginning. And this is playoffs time, you know? Like we've got to be way more physical. And like I said, they came in early and they did what they're supposed to do. They were playing hard, they were doing-- hitting us. And yeah, we just didn't have the same intensity as they had.

And I think that, yeah, like we got to change that.

- Pascal, you've seen Scottie take a lot of hits this year. And he almost always bounces right back up. I mean, obviously, you have to hope that it is better than a [INAUDIBLE] that he's OK. But how tough was it to see him go down?

PASCAL SIAKAM: Yeah, it's tough. It's tough, man. Again, obviously works extremely hard. And he's been playing awesome this season. And I know he's super excited by the playoffs and wanted to be there playing. So yeah, man, we'll see. You know, obviously we hope to have him next game. But yeah, it's definitely tough to see him go down.

And I know that it's hard for him because he wanted to be out there with us.

- What did you think of how he looked before the injury?

PASCAL SIAKAM: Yeah, no, he looked really good. He played with pace and was rebounding, assisting, doing a little bit of everything, which is what he does. And yeah, I think just collectively as a team we didn't match the intensity. So it's tough. But I think he did well. He was doing well.

- A big chunk of your teammates that haven't had a lot of playoff experience talked all week. What's your message to them in terms of just responding? Because you got another one coming right up.

PASCAL SIAKAM: Yeah, again, we could lost by 50 tonight. And it's one game. At end of the day, obviously we know that we got to play better than we did tonight to be able to win against them or have a chance to win. So we've got to go back, watch the film, get better at it. But at the same time, it's one game.

So we just got to come back next game and do our best to get better and try to get it. And I think that that's the nature of the playoffs. Like we talked about before, it's ups and downs. And we've got to be able to maintain that same focus and intensity when things are not going our way.

And I think that if we follow everything, you know, and follow the game plan and play better-- at the end of the day, we can have the most amazing game plan, but if we don't have the intensity to kind of match that, it's going to be tough to beat a team like that.