The possession looked dead in the water. The Raptors had a big lead in the third quarter, and their off-the-ball movement seemed to hint at some comfort with their situation. There was a little lazy passing and a lot of stagnation. As a last resort, the ball was dumped into Pascal Siakam late in the shot clock with Derrick Favors manning him.



In his rookie season, this never would have happened. Kyle Lowry would have launched a three-pointer or an emergency pick-and-roll would have been run. Instead, the Raptors gave the ball to Siakam and told him to go to work. It is hardly what the Raptors’ offence is designed to produce even now, but it is no longer a disaster. Favors got up in Siakam’s face, Siakam drove to his right and picked up the touch foul to reset the clock to 14. With that little time left on the clock, Favors should have dared the non-shooter to take a jumper, but Siakam had used space to his advantage so often in the second quarter that the Jazz were...