Lowry, VanVleet vow to help Siakam regain rhythm with Raptors teetering

Pascal Siakam has had a difficult start to his first postseason as a bona fide All-Star - and no game during the Toronto Raptors' current run has been tougher for the 26-year-old than Monday's 111-89 blowout loss to the Boston Celtics.

Siakam matched his season low with just 10 points on 5-of-9 shooting in Game 5 of the division rivals' second-round series, while the Celtics outscored the Raptors by 25 points when he was on the floor.

Veteran point guard Kyle Lowry, a six-time All-Star and no stranger to postseason highs and lows as Toronto's chief ball-handler through seven consecutive playoff appearances, said the team's distributors must put Siakam in a position to excel.

"We've got to make sure (to) give him the spots to be successful," Lowry said postgame. "We've got to give him the ball a little bit more earlier, get him some pick-and-rolls, stuff like that maybe. But I'm sure next game, he's going to be more aggressive, more assertive, and play harder."

After being named the league's Most Improved Player last season, Siakam averaged a career-best 22.9 points on 45.3% shooting from the field overall and 35.9% on 3-pointers during the 2019-20 campaign. His play helped offset Kawhi Leonard's summer departure, stabilizing a roster not expected to contend again this year.

But despite a slight uptick in playing time in this year's postseason, Siakam's scoring has hit a wall. The power forward's accuracy has dropped to 41.1% from the field and 21.3% on long-range looks through nine playoff games, resulting in just 18 points per contest.

The drop has allowed combo guard Fred VanVleet to emerge as the Raptors' leading postseason scorer with 19.4 points per game.

"I don't think it's a conscious thing where we're not looking for him," VanVleet said of Siakam's struggles. "I think the ball is just finding other guys and that's the way that (the Celtics') defense is set up right now. We've got to take advantage of the open ones we get, and when we have the chance to put him in a good spot, we got to continue to do that.

"As a point guard, (I) probably got to do a better job of looking for him, trying to get him going."

For his part, head coach Nick Nurse was reluctant to attribute too much of Siakam's current lull to increased attention from opposing defenses.

"It could be part of it," Nurse said. "I don't know. He's already kind of been through a deep playoff run and had spectacular games. I'm not sure why he's been so out of rhythm since the restart in the bubble here. He hasn't had a lot of great games."

He added: "We've still got some games to play. Hopefully, he can get his rhythm."

The Raptors will look to avoid elimination in Game 6 against the Celtics at 6:40 p.m. ET on Wednesday.