Toronto Raptors Still Not Getting Respect For NBA Title In 2019

Toronto Raptors power forward Pascal Siakam met with the media on Thursday, and one question got his back up.

“I wanted to know, first,” the reporter began, “a couple of years ago, the Raptors surprisingly won the NBA Championship and last season you guys had to live with the expectations of being defending champ….”

Stop right there. What did he say?

Siakam interrupted quickly. “What do you mean, ‘surprisingly’?’ Siakam shot back. “What does that even mean?”

The question might have been innocent enough and a tempest in a teacup, but it did raise a sore spot in a country that so wants to be respected by the popular press in the United States.

No one in Canada, of course, believes that it was surprising that the Raptors won the championship two years ago, but the players and fans always seem to have to defend their honor.

It’s true that Toronto upset a Golden State Warriors team that couldn’t overcome the losses of Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson to injury.

But that’s not exactly like Toronto got a free pass to the title. Look at the lead-up to the Finals. Toronto was full value for series wins over Orlando, Philadelphia and Milwaukee. You can’t take that away from them.

The Toronto snub got even more currency when it was revealed yesterday that the Raptors won’t be playing on Christmas Day, which is a blockbuster day for the NBA and reserved for the highest-profile teams and superstar players.

“Are we really surprised we didn’t get a Christmas game?” Raptors guard Norman Powell said with a straight face. “I’m not surprised.”

Instead of the Raptors playing a premiere date, fans will see the New Orleans Pelicans playing the Miami Heat at noon Eastern.

The Warriors and Bucks game will follow at 2:30 p.m. The Brooklyn Nets and Boston Celtics have the 5 p.m. time slot.

The Dallas Mavericks play the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers at 8 p.m. And the L.A. Clippers and Denver Nuggets tip off at 10:30 p.m. in the nightcap.

The question put to Siakam was spun into a hot topic on Toronto radio later in the day.

“It was an amateur-hour question,” former NHL player and co-host Jeff O’Neill said snidely on TSN’s afternoon OverDrive show.

Said the show’s host, Bryan Hayes: “I do think there’s something there that the Raptors feel like they never got their due.

“Probably it didn’t help that a lot of it was based on Kawhi (Leonard) leaving right away. That stung those guys. They’ll never admit it publicly because everyone is too cool to do it.”

O’Neill said he believes the Raptors will never again play on Christmas Day unless they bring another marquee name to Toronto. “You know who’s playing on Christmas Day? The Pelicans. Now that Zion (Williamson) is there, he has to play on Christmas.”

Toronto might be accused of having thin skins, but teams north of the border have always felt a certain slight from the United States, even going back to the early 1990s when the Blue Jays won the World Series.

Perhaps it’s part of Canada’s professional sports insecurity.

The Raptors did get a Christmas Day time slot last year as defending champions, but that short run has ended. The Raptors, of course, had a disappointing end to last season when they fell to Boston in Game 7 in the second round.

As the Raptors met with the media at their new home base of Tampa this week, it’s been clear that the players see it as their mission to rebound — not only to prove to themselves that 2019 was no fluke, but also to prove something to the outside world.

No one needs to rebound more than Pascal Siakam. Much is expected of him, especially after he was signed to a four-year, $130 million max contract extension that is set to kick in this season.

When Kawhi left, more attention drifted to Siakam, and his level of play started dropping. It got worse in the playoffs. Siakam admitted on Thursday that he wasn’t himself playing in the bubble of Florida.

Siakam said the pandemic took a toll on him mentally and he wasn’t playing with the joy he normally brings to the court.

“Obviously, I was disappointed in the fact we didn’t win and then also the fact that I didn’t play the way I wanted to,” Siakam said. “I don’t think anybody could be more disappointed than I was.”

After vaulting into NBA stardom while averaging 22.9 points a game during the regular season in 2019-20 and making his first all-star game appearance, Siakam was a playoff bust. Against the Celtics, Siakam averaged 14.9 points and shot 38.2% from the floor.

Siakam said he always spends the offseason working on his game and trying to get better. But he went further this offseason.

Siakam had his own personal trainer, strength and conditioning coach and nutritionist “focus on him” to get him to “the next level.”

Hopefully, when Siakam returns to form, no one will ask him how “surprising” his comeback has been.