-
Tim BontempsESPN
The Toronto Raptors put All-Star forward Pascal Siakam on the bench for Thursday night’s 100-83 win over the New York Knicks in Tampa, Florida.
“It was a matter of discipline for an internal matter,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said after his team won the first game of the season. That’s the decision we made. We just stick with it. ‘
When asked what message he hoped Siakam’s benching would send to the team, the nurse said, “Just a certain way we want to do things. Everyone should be a part of that. It’s that simple.”
While Nurse would not go into details of what led to the decision to put Siakam on the bench, the 26-year-old made a mistake after Tuesday’s 100-93 defeat to the 76ers – Toronto’s third straight defeat to open the season . came after the Raptors had double-digit leads – with 25.6 seconds to go, and he immediately walked off the field and into the visiting locker room at Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center.
Siakam is expected to return for Toronto’s next game, which is against the Pelicans in New Orleans on Saturday. A source told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski that Siakam will not be fined.
Raptors security guard Fred VanVleet said the decision to put Siakam on the bench was communicated to the team on Thursday morning during the shootaround.
“This is something that will not linger,” said VanVleet. “It’s over and over. [Pascal] was great. He handled it very well. He was a great energy for us on the bench tonight, even though he wasn’t played. I can’t wait to get it out again. “
It was a tough start to the season for Siakam after he admitted he wasn’t in the NBA bubble himself at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. During the first three games of this season, Siakam shoots a total of 39.3% and has 3.7 sales per game.
On Thursday, Toronto pulled out of the second half after a tie at half-time, with Norman Powell – who replaced Siakam in the starting line-up – scored 17 points to go along with four rebounds, two steals, an assist and a block while completing a game high plus 28 in 34 minutes.
“The next guy,” Powell said, when asked what his thought process was when he was told to start in Siakam’s place. “Everything that we deal with as a team is always internal, so we deal with that. We understand what happened and why, but we don’t act on it. We focus on the game and everyone takes this opportunity. use as the next guy, go in, execute the game plan and do whatever it takes to get that first win.And when Pascal comes back we still need to come out with that energy no matter what role and how many minutes you play That energy we played with tonight should be consistent going forward. “