Nathan Ray Seebeck-USA TODAY Sports
Pascal Siakam & Chris Boucher Star, but Raptors Fall to Bulls
Nick Nurse has been preparing his whole career for nights like this.
Back in his days coaching overseas, there would be nights when he didn't know who was going to be on his roster until just before tipoff. It's allowed him to be prepared for anything this season as the Toronto Raptors continue to battle injuries, COVID-19 issues, and now suspensions resulting in just eight active players for Thursday night's game against the Chicago Bulls.
"My training before getting to this job was a lot of that, so it kind of becomes part of who you are," Nurse said prior to the game.
Without Kyle Lowry, Fred VanVleet, and DeAndre' Bembry, the Raptors were down to one true point guard, one with just 26 games of NBA experience. But Nurse and the Raptors adapted. OK, so it didn't work entirely. Toronto still lost 122-113 to Chicago, but they battled all night and more importantly, they showed that Pascal Siakam can really handle things in a pinch.
Last July, Nurse said he wanted to be prepared for a night like this. He wasn't sure when it was going to come and, frankly, he probably hoped it wouldn't, but as the Raptors prepared for the 2020 NBA Bubble restart, Nurse said he was testing out a 'super jumbo' lineup without any true point guard.
"I finished a scrimmage today with neither Kyle or Fred out there, which made us really big Pascal kind of handled the ball," Nurse said. "I think I just like them to be able to figure things out in a lot of different ways just in case."
That practice came to good use on Thursday as Nurse let Siakam and rookie Malachi Flynn shared point guard duties. Siakam didn't just get by, he flourished, attacking the rim repeatedly for buckets while initiating Toronto's offence.
"We'll take it as being given an opportunity to let Pascal handle a little more," Nurse said. "He had a lot of good reads out there [but] a couple times it got a little sticky."
Siakam finished the night with 27 points, eight rebounds, while shooting 58.8% from the floor.
The only Raptor more impressive than Siakam was Chris Boucher who broke out of his recent funk for a career night on both ends of the court. He didn't just score 38 points, a career-high, but his rebounding was spectacular. Even against the Bull's Nikola Vucevic, Daniel Theis, Lauri Markkanen trio of bigs, Toronto's undersized centre came away with a career-high 19 rebounds.
"I feel like I wanted to make a splash and take what was given and I feel like we could've won this game," Boucher said.
The problem for the Raptors was everyone else. Gary Trent Jr. and Aron Baynes were both minus-22 and Toronto dropped a crucial game to the Bulls who now sit three games up on the Raptors for the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference and the final spot in the play-in tournament.
Up Next: Cleveland Cavaliers
The Raptors will have another day to get healthy before they take on the Cleveland Cavaliers on Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.
