Pascal Siakam scores 36 in nail-biting Raptors win vs. Pacers

Amit Mann recaps the Raptors' 132-131 win vs. the Pacers. Pascal Siakam had 36 points and 10 rebounds, Scottie Barnes drove for the go-ahead dunk with 27 seconds left as Barnes had 20 points and 11 rebounds. Dennis Schroder scored 26 points for the Raptors. Buddy Hield missed a potential game-winning 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left for the Pacers. He finished with 31 points and made 7 of 12 3s. Tyrese Haliburton had 33 points and 16 assists for Indiana. Malachi Flynn made key contributions off the bench while OG Anunoby and Jakob Poeltl remain consistent forces on the defensive end.

Video Transcript

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- Pascal!

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AMIT MANN: Welcome, welcome, welcome to the "Raptors Over Everything" podcast. My name is Amit Mann. Rate, review, and subscribe on your podcast feeds. YouTube, like and subscribe there as well. Thank you for listening. Thank you for tuning in if you're watching.

Fun game, much, much better than that previous game the other night against the Orlando Magic on a back-to-back. The Raptors really gutted out this victory against the Pacers, 132-131 as I mentioned. Let's go through the key stats.

And we start right at the top with Pascal Siakam, 36 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, just working everyone on the Pacers. And also the Raptors bench, they outscored the Pacers bench 31 to 20. And if you know the Raptors, you've been following this team, them shooting 83% from the line is a great number. So that is my third stat.

But let's start right from the end of this game because this was-- man, it went right down to the wire. It was back and forth for the most part. The Pacers obviously got off to a really hot start in this one. But the Raptors chipped away. And it went down to the wire.

And just looking at the mark of 123-116. And there were a few possessions in that fourth quarter leading into that final stretch there in crunch time where I was like, how are they not giving Pascal Siakam the ball? Just give him the ball, and get out of the way because he was cooking every single person on the Pacers.

There was no person who can guard him. And so why are we going away from what is working at a critical point when, again, it's 123-116? The game is sort of fading away from you. And a couple of possessions are-- you're just not getting good shots either.

And obviously, they went back to Pascal. And he delivered. So he got a layup. And then he was also able to pass the ball. He was able to get Dennis Schroder a 3-pointer off a double, and then OG Anunoby on another possession. He's driving towards the rim. He kicks it out. OG hits a 3. And that's how the Raptors were able to close that gap and get into the true crunch time, right down to the last few seconds of this game.

Want to mention Jakob Poeltl for one particular play. At the two-minute mark, he was subbed out for Scottie Barnes, or he was subbed out for Gary Trent, Jr., and Scottie Barnes moved to the five. But before that happened, there was a possession where it was a pick-and-roll in the high pick-and-roll. And he had to go from the top of the key.

And he had to close out to the weak side corner. And he got there on Bruce Brown. And he blocked that shot. That was the last thing he did in this game. That was a massive play. Whether that shot went in or not, the fact he did that, that was huge. He was one of their best players in this one along with a few Raptors.

I was on here yesterday, talking about the fact that no one really had that good of a game. But tonight, almost everyone did, I've got to say. Every single person contributed in some capacity.

But looking at-- let's talk from the-- yeah, the 131-129, the keeper play that happened. If you have been following this Raptor team, like I said, you are aware of the play that they ran at-- towards the end of the game where Scottie Barnes got his dunk and and 1.

Myles Turner fouled him. And I'm just bringing the play up to make sure I'm getting it all right here. Yeah, so I sent this play out on Twitter because as soon as I saw it, I mean, I knew this is the JP keeper play. And it was a game back in 2018 where it's actually CJ Miles.

He's inbounding the ball. He inbounds it to Jonas Valanciunas. And the play is actually very similar to what the Raptors ran tonight. It was Pascal Siakam, in this case, inbounding the ball. He inbounds it to the wing and. It's faked off as a dribble handoff.

But then Scottie Barnes, just like JV, he keeps it. He rolls to the basket, two dribbles, and he dunks it. And in both cases, the players got and 1's. Now, for JV, sorry, he did not get an and 1. The play was-- it ended up being a tie game at that point. And it was argued that he should have got an and 1. But he did not get the foul. And the Raptors went to overtime in that game.

But in this game obviously, Scottie Barnes did get the and 1. Just an awesome play. And it worked to perfection. Scottie is the person you'd want to do this with because of his brute physicality and how quickly he's able to shift gears and get towards the rim, and also his ability to finish through contact at the basket. That was massive, just a great move, a great play call by Darko.

He had a couple of really nice play calls towards the end of this game. And that was awesome. But going forward in this one, I mean, we've got to look at the defense down the stretch from OG Anunoby on Tyrese Haliburton. Yes, Tyrese did have a couple of baskets down the stretch. But you cannot dismiss OG being able to get him off of his route towards the basket.

I mean, Tyrese is still making shots. There was a play from Tyrese where he's driving towards the basket. He pump fakes. He steps through. And off one leg, he hits this really acrobatic shot against OG. And again, there were more possessions down the stretch of this game where OG was challenged to keep up with Tyrese as he drove towards the basket.

There was a drive towards that left-hand side. And on the more acrobatic side of things, Tyrese was trying to hit a shot with his right hand on the left side. And it didn't go because OG took him off his path. And there was just more and more possessions where OG-- I mean, throughout this game, man, him and Jakob, they were having a hell of a time trying to guard Tyrese Haliburton and Myles Turner and company in their pick-and-roll because it is so potent, it is so lethal.

Tyrese sees absolutely everything. He's having a terrific season. And they just kept on hustling. And they kept on working. And also OG had a drive towards the basket down the stretch of the game where he was able to get 2 free throws. And he made both of them. So OG was terrific, especially down the stretch, he made a few really huge plays.

And now obviously, we have to get to the true crunch time. [LAUGHS] Yeah, so it's a 1-point game. And I mean, Gary gets the ball. Well, first off, before that, Pascal inbounds to Scottie. And he had just missed one of his two free throws.

And I would have been comfortable with him taking the free throws personally, because I mean, Scottie, he's got a pretty good track record with making these kinds of shots. But he did throw a bomb to Gary Trent. And from the TV angle that we had, we did not know where the ball was going.

And I was like, oh, boy, where is this going? But thankfully, Gary did catch it. And obviously, I mean, what happened after is what happened. He's not shooting very well from the free throw line this season, unfortunately. And this was another case where he didn't kind of deliver.

I expect him to make those free throws. I've actually felt pretty confident with him going to the line in that situation because he notoriously is capable and wants those types of shots. But he missed both.

And then obviously, you're in scramble mode. You're trying to pick up. And Tyrese Haliburton is coming down the court. And very smart play by Buddy Hield. He was along the wing. And Tyrese was driving towards him.

And Buddy goes through the screen. He went, flared out to the top of the key. And we could argue, should have-- OG should have switched out to Buddy Hield at the top of the key? Should Dennis try to get over there?

Probably should have been OG who should have-- I don't know. I mean, it's debatable. They probably both had time to make that play. But obviously, you're really worried about Tyrese Haliburton because he is a damn good 3-point shooter as well.

So it turned out that neither of them went there. And Buddy had a wide open-- what-- 31, 32-footer. And thankfully, he missed it. Tough shot, makeable shot for him. He was on fire from 3 throughout this game along with Tyrese Haliburton. Those guys combined for like 64 points. Is that what it was? Yeah, 64 points.

It felt like those guys-- like anything they shot was going to go in. So the Raptors pulled it out. Obviously, a real nail-biter. But it's good for them to win these kinds of games. It's good for them to go through these situations. And just a hell of a performance.

I had so many issues with that last game against Orlando. It's not that they lost. It's the way they lost. They kind of got punked. That was the worst part. And this was a different kind of mental toughness required because of the scoring nature and just the physicality of the game compared to the Orlando game, which was truly just like--

It was a punch-in-your-mouth sort of game. And you just had to muscle up, or you muscled down. And in that case, the Raptors didn't really compare to the Orlando Magic. But in this one, I mean, the Raptors, they showed some real fight, especially offensively with their toughness.

I mean, granted, yeah, the Pacers are a pretty easy team to score against. They're first in offensive rating. And I believe they're last in defensive rating. So they barely got by, but they got it done.

I'm just looking at the rest of the game here. And right from the start of the game, obviously, the Haliburton and Myles Turner pick-and-roll was a problem for the Raptors. They were slicing and dicing. They were making things happen.

Like I said, Tyrese Haliburton, it didn't matter how, which way he was going to do it, he was going to find the roll man. And Myles Turner had 7 points in the first quarter. And it was when he checked out. That's when the Raps kind of found a groove.

And who found their groove? Well, it was Pascal Siakam. All right, so he scored three buckets back to back to back. And then he assisted on a couple more. And he kind of closed that gap. As I said earlier, it was a 25-13 game at one point in the first quarter. And Pascal was probably the featured part of them closing that gap.

And then going into the second quarter, if you saw my video yesterday, I was not happy with the group that was sent out to start that second quarter, obviously. We know that that's usually a bench unit of some sort. But I was a lot happier with the group that we saw today.

And Gradey Dick didn't play. That was a DNP. Precious Achiuwa was out with some knee soreness, I believe. And the group that they used, I mean, it was Malachi. It was Scottie. It was OG. It was Chris Boucher. That lineup made things happen, I'll put it that way. They really made things happen.

They were getting good shots. And Malachi Flynn, we're going to get to more of what he contributed to tonight's game in a second. But he had a quick 8 points in that second quarter, two 3's and a layup, a couple of relocation. And then he attacked Jaden Smith off a closeout.

And that was like a-- these are good plays by Malachi. He just continues to find his confidence on the offensive end. And from there, starters were doing their thing. Dennis Schroder had a great game. He was a really popping off from 3. He was able to get downhill a lot. The Raptors offense as a whole had a lot more cohesion to it.

They were able to get into some of those elbow actions. And a fun part, again, was that Scottie Barnes was featured more as a DHO hub, as a screener-roller, as a pick-and-roll ball handler. And it was Jakob Poeltl.

We saw Jak and Scottie doing more pick-and-rolls. And we saw Scottie running some DHOs with OG Anunoby. It's good that we're seeing Scottie being used in more ways. It's great that he can move off-ball and that he can also work in the pick-and-roll as a ball handler. But he's also a great screener.

He's also terrific in DHOs. And this is more ways in which you can use the uniqueness of Scottie Barnes's skill set. He's so good at so many things. It's a hell of a thing. And so this is a great way to utilize all of those assets of what he has to give.

But it was also in that second quarter where the Raptors changed up their defense and how they were going to be approaching Tyrese Haliburton. And what it was is that they decided that, you know what, we're going to get Dennis Schroder onto Buddy Hield. And then from there, we're going to have all kinds of length to just switch these three-man actions that the Pacers rolled out there.

And so between OG, between Scottie, between Pascal, between Jak, they were switching everything. That way, they were negating some of those downhill rolling threats that Tyrese was just carving them up with. And sometimes it was Jak out there on the perimeter. And he was guarding Tyrese Haliburton one-on-one. And hey, man, he held his own.

It's not easy doing it out there. If it wasn't him, maybe it was Scottie. Maybe it was Pascal. But they were communicating on the back side. Maybe they were preswitching some of the actions. And that's how they were able to negate some of Tyrese Haliburton's downhill penetration, some of his passing ability.

But he still scored. Again man, that's a very, very good player. He still kept on scoring. His 3-point shot has really developed. It's a little bit awkward to some degree, but he gets his arc, obviously, because of where he starts his shot load from. And he just keeps on finding ways to produce.

So again, that's a really smart player, hell of a player, obviously. But that was the key advantage the Raptors were able to get on the defensive end in that pick-and-roll is that they were able to doing some of that switching, preswitching, and also getting Dennis Schroder off of Tyrese Haliburton and pushing him on to Buddy Hield.

And sometimes they were able to get Dennis in some of those actions. But they were just very careful. They were smart. They were communicating. I loved the communication from the bench as well. You could hear Scottie a lot. You could hear a lot of players on the Raptors bench.

It felt like this was a game where, after yesterday's game against Orlando where they were somewhat lifeless, they came in with a lot of life. And the bench was very vocal at multiple times. And that's always a good sign.

That means, again, you're seeing more cohesion from your team. You're seeing that you care about this. Another moment was Pascal Siakam drops to the ground after getting fouled. And it's not just Pascal Siakam. They were doing it for other players too. That was a moment where saw four guys come over to come up and pick him up.

They took a lot of pride in this game. And it shows that they're still playing for their coach. They obviously still care about their season. And they're able to move on quickly from that lifeless loss last night against the Orlando Magic.

So that was, obviously, just a good thing for their morale. And it's great that they were able to get rewarded for their effort tonight because they did work really hard. Every single player tonight had some key contribution.

So let's just go through some of the contributions that we're talking about. As I said, with Scottie Barnes, he was running a pick-and-roll with Jak. That was awesome, love seeing that kind of stuff, like Scottie just being able to carve up defenses in his own way, right, with his size, with his length, with his ability to get downhill. I love seeing that kind of stuff.

He had this massive putback. Holy, I believe in the fourth quarter, just huge off a Gary Trent, Jr. miss. And we saw more of Pascal and Scottie working their two-man game. It was a postup from Pascal. And it led to a kickout 3 for Scottie. And then it was vice-versa. It was Scottie in the paint. And then it was a kickout for Pascal, hitting his one 3 of the game, just more and more of this stuff.

If we're having two players running DHOs and screen-and-rolls like with Jakob and Scottie, it's only going to be good things for the Raptors offense. They were moving much better tonight. And as long as they're able to obviously optimize the spacing between both of them and also the other three players-- and that's going to be a challenge.

But I just love the intensity and their attention to detail in terms of just trying to make the spacing of the team and to keep their movement, their body movement happening. So that was awesome.

And Jakob Poeltl, like I said, man, he was working his tail off, in that third quarter especially. I mean, a lot of the players, at various moments, they had their hands on their knees. They were struggling. But that man needed oxygen multiple times because I saw a sequence where he's switching onto Haliburton on defense. And he's setting screens for Dennis and Scottie.

Then he's working DHOs. And he's trying to finish around the rim. And after all that, it was like, we're also talking about a game that had a frantic pace, up and down nonstop. That's how it is with the Indiana Pacers.

And dude was gassed. Dude was done. And not to mention him, but also OG Anunoby-- like, he was another-- man, he was working throughout this game, holy.

But I enjoyed these-- a few of these plays down the stretch. Before Jakob did check out in the fourth quarter, they had him on the wing. And they ran an off-ball action where Scottie screened for Pascal. And then he flashed towards the paint. And Jakob found him under the rim for a layup.

And then also a DHO between Jakob and Dennis where Dennis, he was around the wing or so. And then you had Jakob on the opposite elbow. And Dennis was able to run into a dribble handoff.

And obviously Jakob, as that-- as Dennis is taking the ball, you kind of roll your body. You make yourself wide a little bit. You create that screen. And Dennis was able to get a lot of momentum going towards the basket. And he just uses those rocket feet. And he was able to get a layup.

So a great game from Jakob, another dude who just worked his ass off all night to get the Raptors this win. Pascal Siakam, I mean, I'm not even sure where to start with him. He was fantastic. He was the engine throughout this game.

When they were struggling, he was there. And that happened at various points. There was the first quarter, I mentioned. There was another stretch in the third quarter where he scored 6 straight points. And also he was getting an and 1.

And it felt like he was absolutely out of gas. He had nothing left. He was kind of walking down the court because he had nothing left. And all of a sudden, he just runs towards the rim. Scottie finds him for an and 1. And then there he is, yelling and 1 for like the 11th time in the game.

It didn't matter who it was that he was guarding, that was trying to guard him, Obi Toppin, Bruce Brown, whoever it was. And I had no idea. I didn't realize that, actually, Pascal is 245 pounds at 6' 8". And Obi Toppin is 6" 9" at 220. I looked this up because Pascal gave him a bump. And the dude moved, he moved him.

And then obviously, Pascal ended up going into one of his midrange moves and hit the shot. So Pascal, at three different points of this game, he got them through a very difficult stretch. And I'm just talking about the scoring aspect, not to mention some of the defensive plays he made.

He was all over Bennedict Mathurin a couple times. He didn't have a great game, Benedict, unfortunately. And also he blocked Tyrese Haliburton at the rim once. And down the stretch, like I said earlier, man, he was just making plays. He was making plays. He was a steady force. Pascal was terrific today.

And we've got to wrap up with Malachi Flynn. Man, oh, man, just, I love when he is this feisty version of himself. So I mentioned the 8 points in the second quarter. But then later on, fourth quarter, he gets a tough drive off a floater. And then he's able to corral a loose ball and eventually does, again, get a layup.

And the other thing right here-- this is my favorite part is that, as I mentioned, there were preswitching a lot of the actions with Tyrese Haliburton and those pick-and-rolls. And it turned out that he was in the paint against Jaden Smith. Jaden's a big dude. And there was Malachi, fronting him, denying him, not letting him get the ball.

And the Pacers are trying to get it to him. And Malachi was like, nope, nope. I got [INAUDIBLE]. He wouldn't let it happen. These are the things that I loved about Malachi when he was drafted.

And he was also checked in towards the end of the game for Gary Trent, Jr. on a few big defensive possessions. So Malachi, his stock just continues to rise. I mean, how good is-- how consistent is he?

Is he a solidified top seven player in the rotation? I don't know what it is exactly. But I know that he keeps on playing well. And that's great to see, especially with everything he's dealt with in his NBA career as a Raptor. He just keeps on getting better, keeps on getting more confident. Shots are falling. And I love seeing some of these drives toward the basket. He's finishing in the paint. It's good stuff from him.

Gary had a couple of big shots. Otto Porter, Jr. only played 11 minutes. But he hit his one shot. And also he's just doing the little things. Look at his plus-minus, he was a plus-14. That's how it is with Otto Porter, Jr. He comes in. And he's just an instant stabilizer. He makes things happen.

I thought he was actually promoting some cutting on the Raptors when he was in the lineup. When things were getting a little bit stagnant at times, he was a person that made that off-ball cut, that 45 cut, just got players moving. He was directing traffic at points. So he was terrific.

And that's Chris Boucher, again, intensity was terrific. [CLEARS THROAT] Much more stable on the defensive end tonight compared to the previous game against Orlando. So shouts for Chris.

Good bench production from the Raptors. Like I said earlier on, they outscored the Pacers' bench 31 to 20. So the Raptors win. Good stuff, much better feeling. I feel good right now, and I hope you do, too. So the Raptors win.

We'll check in with you guys on Friday, as the Raptors continue their in-season tournament against the Chicago Bulls at home. All right, thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. We'll talk to you later.

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