Pascal Siakam’s Epic Game 1 Finals Performance

The Toronto Raptors are now 3-0 versus Golden State this season after a convincing 118-109 win in game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday night.  One of the key contributors for the Raptors was NMSU's Pascal Siakam who had an epic performance in his first ever Finals game by tallying 32 points, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists, putting him in some pretty elite company.

Siakam's performance was quite frankly one that we will be talking about for quite some time.  His 11-consecutive made field goals is a feat that hasn't been accomplished in an NBA Finals game in 20 years, and he had one of the more memorable quarters in recent memory by going 6-for-6 with 14-points in the third quarter.  This was the second time this postseason that Siakam has made 10 or more FG's in a game, the only other player to do that is LeBron James, and has now only been done twice in the last 20-postseasons.  Overall Siakam made 14 of 17 field goals and joined the likes of James Worthy and Michael Jordan as having the best field goal percentages (82%) in an NBA Finals game.

In fact, Siakam became just the 8th player in Finals history to score at least 30 points, 5 assists and 5 rebounds in an NBA Finals debut.  If the Raptors are going to win this series, Siakam needs to continue to step up his game as Kawhi Leonard took only 14-shots and scored 23-points in this contest.  Another great accomplishment for Toronto is that they became the first team to hand Steve Kerr's Warriors a loss in game 1 of the Finals (4-1).

You have to be happy for Siakam as he mentioned following his game 1 performance that "I'm doing it for my dad."  His father tragically passed away in a car accident while he played at NMSU.  Overall, this is the ultimate feel-good story about a gentleman who played his college ball close to El Paso but also worked his way to the top and just elevated his game to another level when it mattered most.

We could be seeing a superstar in the making right in front of our eyes with Siakam, let's face it, great players are stellar when everything is on the line, and Siakam has a whole country rooting for him north of the border and the borderland as well.