Bam Adebayo channels inner Embiid and stops Pascal Siakam for Miami Heat

Pascal Siakam is having another huge year for the Toronto Raptors. On Tuesday night, the Miami Heat put Bam Adebayo on him and showed how he can be stopped.

The Miami Heat and Erik Spoelstra are continuing to prove that they can scheme to beat the best of them in the Eastern Conference, most recently evidenced by Tuesday night’s 121-110 win over the Toronto Raptors to improve to 10-5.

The Raptors haven’t been bad at all this year (in fact, after Tuesday their record is the same as Miami’s). They lost Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green to free agency, but much of the roster carried over from last year to this year, and the team has continued to climb despite most expecting them to keel over with the loss of a Finals MVP.

The Raptors have the third-best net rating in the NBA and had won seven in a row before Tuesday night.

Pascal Siakam has made the transition from the short-lived Kawhi era to the new era easy, stepping in and stepping up.

Asked to be the primary option this year (particularly when Kyle Lowry went down for much of November with injury) he has improved his per-game averages to 25.1 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game in 36.9 minutes. Last season he averaged 16.9 points, 6.9 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game in 31.9 minutes.

Some have suggested he might be able to win the Most Improved Player award this year… after winning it last year.

Siakam was impressive last season. While Leonard had the main spotlight in Toronto, Siakam served as a great ancillary offensive option especially in downhill situations and with baseline cuts. He has a stockpile of offensive moves bolstered by strong dribbling and footwork. His spin moves seem to be able to create space and shake a majority of NBA defenders.

2018-19 was his coming out year, and he proved that he belonged in this league and could be a contributor on a competitive team. This year, he’s proving he can be the contributor on a competitive team.

While Siakam performed really well in the playoffs (he averaged 19.0/17.1/2.8 in the postseason), he struggled in the series against the Philadelphia 76ers because of a strategy Brett Brown employed partway through the series — putting Joel Embiid on Siakam when on the defensive end.

Embiid’s strength and length counteracted Siakam’s agility and quickness. It was almost as if Siakam stepped into quicksand every time he came down the floor and had to face off against Embiid.

Siakam scored 39 points in the 30:08 that Embiid guarded him in the playoffs, which is, at a cursory glance, quite good, but it doesn’t tell the entire story. Siakam was markedly less efficient from the field with Embiid defending him, shooting 32.6 percent. He shot 47.0 percent from the field throughout the playoffs.

On Tuesday, Spoelstra put forth a similar strategy putting a big on Siakam with Bam Adebayo, who was tasked with guarding Siakam for a good portion of the night.

Adebayo, a bit more nimble than Embiid, took this strategy to a new level. Pascal faced up with Bam for 30.6 partial possessions and scored just two points according to NBA stats, both from free-throws. He was 0-for-1 from beyond the arc and 0-for-2 from the 2-point zone with Bam on him.

This is thankless work from Adebayo. It’s not as pretty as an alley-oop or a fast break pull-up 3-pointer. It wins you games, though. He completely neutralizes the biggest threat Toronto has.

Take a look at the play paused at the very start of the video. The space Siakam has to work with there is almost always a guaranteed two points against any other defender.

Adebayo cuts off the option when he tries to drive the baseline, but as Siakam rotates around to try another option, Adebayo cuts that off as well. Siakam tries one last move, the spin move that usually confuses defenders and gives him space to elevate for an easy jump shot, but Adebayo is able to stick with Siakam and challenge, forcing a miss.

Tuesday night proves that Siakam is impressive. Having an “off night” against a defender as strong as Adebayo and still finding enough opportunity to score 15 points is proof that Siakam probably can’t be shut down for an entire game.

But the Heat do know that if they face up with the Raptors in the playoffs, they have a strong defensive option for their most lethal offensive player. And even if the Raptors try to get sneaky by screening Bam, the Heat have switching options.

This same strategy might be applicable for other Eastern Conference offensive weapons as well (think Ben Simmons, Giannis Antetokounmpo).

It’s good to see Bam being Bam.