Nick Nurse has never seen anything like the 32-point performance Pascal Siakam put on Thursday night to lead the Toronto Raptors to victory over the Golden State Warriors in the opening game of the NBA Finals.
The coach knows better than most what the 25-year-old native of Cameroon, who punishes opponents with his speed and athleticism, can do. There have been many times this season when Nurse wondered if Siakam could improve any more than he already had. And then he did.
In less than a year, Siakam has transformed from a member of Toronto’s Bench Mob, a player who put up 7.