Watch Warriors @ Raptors Game 2 in the early hours of Monday morning (1am) live on Sky Sports Arena
Monday 3 June 2019 00:04, UK
Toronto Raptors' Game 1 star Pascal Siakam has warned the Golden State Warriors that the Eastern Conference champions' lockdown defense can get even better.
Toronto nullified most of the Warriors' major threats in Game 1, with only Stephen Curry (34 points) really scoring nearly as freely as he would like.
The Raptors roster is a defensive juggernaut with Marc Gasol and Kawhi Leonard both former winners of the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, Leonard having picked up the accolade twice.
And the versatility and engagement they showed defensively seemed to catch the Warriors off guard at times in Game 1 but Siakam, who scored a playoff career-high 32 points in Game 1 as well as starring defensively with two blocks, is adamant his team can improve yet further on that end.
"I think we can definitely get better," he said. "We can definitely get a lot better. I think for the most part [we have] guys who can do different things on the floor and also you know - Kawhi, Marc - guys who have been defensive player of the year, guys that understand and have a high IQ [and] definitely can change on the fly.
"Having those type of guys helps. Also Kyle [Lowry], Fred [VanVleet], the list goes on and on, guys who can definitely lock up [the defense]. When we all buy into wanting to get stops, it gets interesting."
In Game 1, Toronto used their quickness to score 24 fast-break points and turn the Warriors' 17 turnovers into 17 points.
Siakam himself exploded for a playoff career-high of 32 points to lead Toronto and although the Cameroonian expects Golden State to make adjustments ahead of Game 2, he says he'll be ready.
"I think all year that's something that I've always done, kind of adjusting and getting better as the day goes on," he said.
"I think that a little playoff experience and knowing games are going to be different - you're going to have different looks than maybe you did the first game or whatever. For me, it's just about adjusting."
But rather than concerning themselves with how the two-time defending champion Warriors will change their approach, Lowry says the Raptors will be focusing on themselves.
"They got rings and they can be confident" the point guard said. "We can't really necessarily worry about them. We have to continue to worry about us. They're going to be them and they're going to do their thing, but for us we have to concentrate on us and focus on what we have to do.
"We can't worry about this, that. We go out there and we do our game plan and we focus on what we can control. That's what we have done all year. We haven't worried about this, that and the other, in the sense of we go out there and we control what we can control on our end."
Game 2 takes place in Toronto in the early hours of Monday morning (1am) live on Sky Sports Arena
