NBA Playoffs 2020: Pascal Siakam finally turn up to help Toronto take Game 4 and even series against Boston

The NBA defending champions, Toronto Raptors, are back.  They showed champions’ stuff to recover after going down 2-0 to the Boston Celtics in their second-round series.

The Raptors won Game 3 in a miraculous fashion, then ensured they even the series as they beat the Celtics to take Game 4, 100-93.

All of a sudden the series is all tied up at 2-2, and Toronto has all the momentum.

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Pascal Siakam showed what he is capable of and finally stepped up for the Raptors, going for 23 points and 11 rebounds in his best game of the series, while Kyle Lowry was strong as well, finishing with 22 points, 11 rebounds and seven assists.

The Raptors also dominated the 3-point battle in this tie, knocking down 17 of their 44 attempts.

Jayson Tatum as usual led the way for Boston, putting up 24 points and 10 rebounds, but they really struggled on the offensive end as a team. They didn’t impress at all from the 3-point line, shooting 7-for-35, which was their worst outside shooting performance in the playoffs.

Watch the Game highlights below

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i90nDx-85lY

Pascal Siakam was given a much bigger role after Kawhi Leonard left to join up with the Clippers, and he handled it well in the regular season.

The playoffs, however, have been a different story. He was fine, though not super impressive against the nets in the first round, and really struggled in the first three games of this series.

But on Saturday night, he finally showed up.

After averaging 15.3 points in Games 1-3, Siakam dropped 23 points and 11 rebounds on 10 of 23 from the field in Game 4.

It wasn’t a super-duper performance still, but simply getting that kind of production from him mattered more than his shooting percentage.

Hopefully, this breakout game gives Siakam some confidence moving forward.