With so many big names on the Golden State Warriors and Toronto Raptors in the NBA Finals, many people perhaps expected the stars to provide us with the biggest performance in Game 1 of the series. Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green played well for Golden State, but they didn’t do enough to steal Game 1 in Toronto.

Kawhi Leonard has been the unquestioned leader of the Raptors throughout the playoffs, and Marc Gasol turned in an impressive first half, but Pascal Siakam was near perfect in a dominant 32-point performance in Toronto’s 118-109 win. He was extremely efficient offensively, shooting 14-17 from the floor, and he was an irritant on the defensive end all night.

“Coming into this series, if you had asked me who is the third best player in this series, who would you have said (that player was)?” Pierce said. “You probably would have said Klay Thompson. It doesn’t look that way right now. It looks like Siakam is stepping up.”