If there\u2019s a lesson to take from the Toronto Raptors\u2019 97-93 win over the Milwaukee Bucks, other than that Giannis Antetokounmpo remains petrified of Scotiabank Arena, it is that Fred VanVleet may one day claim the throne of GROAT if he keeps playing like this .<\/p>\n
Theoretically, two players who can hit catch-and-shoot jumpers, drive, post up, pass, and play scrambling defense ought to work wonders together.<\/p>\n
I know it\u2019s hard sometimes when we\u2019re so used to winning, and we\u2019re so spoiled, won a championship not that long ago.<\/p>\n
Because of their abilities to get where they want to go and force rotations, more of their shots come against already compromised defenses; Barnes and Siakam are one and two on the team in the differential of two-pointers that are assisted when they\u2019re playing versus on the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought Pascal, especially, I thought he made some good passes out of the paint, and then he made some good early ones, he got off it early when he started to drive and saw the help coming and he just got off it earlier,\u201d said Nick Nurse.<\/p>\n
With the defense distracted by VanVleet jetting away from the screen \u2014 VanVleet shot five of 10 on his own from deep on the night, constantly a menace without the ball in his hands \u2014 Barnes threw a picturesque floating entry pass over the fronting defender to Siakam for the layup.<\/p>\n
Or the first basket of the game, with Barnes and VanVleet playing the two-man game, hitting the paint, and Siakam catching the pass in the corner, attacking himself, and then swinging behind him to Svi Mykhailiuk for the open triple.<\/p>\n
Of course, it\u2019s worth mentioning that the Bucks were without Antetokounmpo or Brook Lopez, meaning their back line of defense was far smaller than the Raptors are accustomed to seeing.<\/p>\n
Later he made a scoop layup, forcing yet another Bucks\u2019 timeout, and circled to the middle of the court, raising his arms Gladiator style, willing the crowd to yell.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think one thing that will help both of those guys is getting Precious in the right spots,\u201d said VanVleet after the game of Barnes and Siakam\u2019s comfort with one another.<\/p>\n
And it\u2019s not like Siakam and Barnes played so well because of VanVleet\u2019s brilliance, though having successful guards is part of what allows similar forwards to share the court together.<\/p>\n
What we saw against Milwaukee was just a glimpse, a beautiful snowflake buried by the avalanche of VanVleet\u2019s dominance.<\/p>\n