GAME 7, ECSF: Boston Celtics @ Toronto Raptors - Friday September 11th, 9pm ET - TSN/TNT

[GOLDBLUM]

[The Great One]

Listen to Shaq. It's exactly what I'm saying. Being a great player is a mindset. Siakam is just happy to be a role player.

[Fear_the_BC]

I mean, yeah, mental health is a thing that varies from person to person and many players handle it differently, though I think it's potentially harsh considering players have lost family members in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. Regarding regular playoff-related stress last year, Siakam was just peachy.

I haven't seen the bubble being used by Siakam as an excuse for his play (EDIT: post game he's accepting a lot of the blame), but it is certainly a variable or a potential explanation. Just like how he didn't start playing basketball until later in life is a potential variable regarding why his handle resulted in 8 turnovers. It's not an excuse, and the age he started playing is certainly nothing he can control now, but it better explains the situation. Excuses and explanations/potential variables aren't the same thing.

I'm hopeful for him. This isn't a DeRozan situation like people are freaking out about. He plays defense, etc etc and given his past success in the playoffs, Siakam seems like someone who can rebound from this playoff season for next year.

ya give him that ..he plays D ...too bad he had 5 TOs today tho

ah well ..it's Boston year ..they were clearly the better team talent wise....raps just scrappy

[consmap]

Hahah oh man here we go again. Setting bad records. Life of a Raps fan

[iblastoff]

siakam was obviously straight trash. no excuses. he had the entire bubble period to get going and was subpar in nearly every single game. raptors even had the advantage of arriving early and having more practice than other teams. dude couldnt even show up for a potential season-ending game 5 and then was even WORSE in game 7.

he was too scared to take a single 3 in this game save for the airball when it was already over.

dude was MIP and an all-star starter. that comes with expectations. he met absolutely none of them.

tatum is only 22. siakam is already 26. theres very little time left for him to get it together. if the expectation now is that hes just a 2nd fiddle, well then thats basically back to derozan problems again. because unless giannis comes in 2021, siakam will be 'the guy' for years to come.

[GOLDBLUM]

Hahah oh man here we go again. Setting bad records. Life of a Raps fan

Franchise record... just a franchise record at least! lol ugh

[Hotshot]

[bertarapsfan]

Feels weird to lose a hard fought series. We have either won it all or flamed out and got swept in embarrassing fashion.
celtics were always the more talented team but I thought we might be the better "team".
I remember someone made a thread about what would be a successful season and I said ECF or a tough 7 game series loss to the celtics.
All in all have to be satisfied and proud of the guys they defend the crown admirably despite being over matched and out gunned by most other top teams

[Sonny]

I also don't want to see any Lowry or DeRozan comparison. Those two struggled in the playoffs in the past but nothing like this. Did Siakam touched that Monstars basketball from Space Jam? is that the reason why he all of a sudden lost all of his skills?

With Lowry and DeRozan it was about shot making and shot selection and the fact that they kept shooting even when their shots weren't falling. With Siakam it's just different. He looked scared and I felt like he didn't have any confidence in his game. He was a completwly different player from the one that we saw in the regular season. It's weird.

[consmap]

This is how I'm dealing with the loss

[S.R.]

This is how I'm dealing with the loss

If he had the legs to give us these games back to back he'd be a tier 1 superstar. Ah well, Lowry owes us nothing and has given everything he's got to give.

[RandomGuy]

Love Nick Nurse as a coach and a person but he lost us the last game pretty much, crucial mistakes by him:

Playing Marc instead of Serge, just give his minutes to a person who has it going all series... He was literally the only confident offensive player when he was on the court (excluding Powell)
Not benching Siakam when he was killing momentum with his brainless fouls and turnovers. He's not Lebron, don't be afraid to bench him!
Not playing our bench more (Matt Thomas looked nothing but productive on both ends out there).
Not taking a timeout to draw an actual play with a moving ball... for our last chance to tie the game. Why? This one's really bizarre for me.

All of these factors would have probably resulted in a W for us and all of them were under the coach's control so that's why I'm putting the L on him this time.

[saints91]

I agree, Nick has to learn to trust his bench. They couldn’t have possibly made more mistakes than the starters. Those guys would’ve played better with less mileage on them

[Rudy Bargnani]

This sucks. Proud of the team, was a great season but sucks to go down like that.

Looking back at the boxscore...Serge only played 20 minutes last night. Had the highest OFFRTG on the team, best plus/minus, shot 15-31 from 3 against Boston in the series, and only played 20 minutes. Damn.

Edit--Matt Thomas had great advanced stats this series. Again best net rating on the team yesterday.

[KeonClark]

This sucks. Proud of the team, was a great season but sucks to go down like that.

Looking back at the boxscore...Serge only played 20 minutes last night. Had the highest OFFRTG on the team, best plus/minus, shot 15-31 from 3 against Boston in the series, and only played 20 minutes. Damn.

Edit--Matt Thomas had great advanced stats this series. Again best net rating on the team yesterday.

Thomas and Serge both should have played more. Nick went down with the ship last night