The Toronto Raptors completed a wild 23-point comeback over the Washington Wizards.
It’s the Raptors second comeback of 20 or more points in the month.
Pascal Siakam led the charge for Toronto with a game-high 39 points. He took over the second-half and single-handedly propelled the Raptors to victory.
Siakam had 29 of his 39 points in the second-half. Most of his damage came inside of the paint where he scored 30.
The Raptors played a terrible half of basketball and entered halftime down 64-45. It looked like they were headed for their worst loss of the season. Even head coach Darko Rajakovic did not think Toronto was going to comeback:
Darko’s message to his team at halftime: “I don’t expect you to go out there & win the game but I expect you to go out & play with joy & compete at a much higher level.”
“We ended up winning the game but to be honest with you I prefer not to dig a hole of 19 pts at halftime”
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) November 14, 2023
It seems like Rajakovic’s reverse psychology worked. A head coach telling his team “I don’t expect you to go out there & win the game” is not something you hear of especially at the NBA level.
However, Rajakovic coaches with class and grace. He does not get too hard on his players and instead tries to motivate them. Rajakovic taking this kind of approach ended up working as his team responded and won the game.
Boucher talks about Raptors comeback win
Chris Boucher compared Pascal Siakam leading the Raptors to a 23-point comeback win to Kyle Lowry leading the Raptors to a 30-point comeback win over the Dallas Mavericks in 2019:
Pascal Siakam 🤝 Kyle Lowry
We’re not losing this game pic.twitter.com/R4CQ1HGUXI
— Yahoo Sports Canada (@YahooCASports) November 14, 2023
Boucher played a big role for the Raptors in the fourth quarter. He brought some much needed energy from off the bench as he finished with 10 points and 3 key blocks.
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