Video | Pascal Siakam lands flying kick on Daniel Theis in Celtics-Raptors NBA game

Every now and then, we see faint flickers of MMA in other sports. That’s just what happened in Monday night’s Boston Celtics vs. Toronto Raptors game, when Raptor’s star Pascal Siakam landed an inadvertent flying kick on Boston’s Daniel Theis.

In the first quarter of Monday night’s Celtics vs. Raptors game inside the NBA Bubble near Orlando, Florida, Siakam attempted to block what he thought was a shot from Brad Wanamaker, and ended up planting his foot squarely on Theis’ chin in the process.

See it below (via Bleacher Report):

This kick from Pascal Siakam generated immediate reactions from both MMA fans and pro wrestling fans.

Siakam went full UFC on Theis in the first 👀 pic.twitter.com/AT6lflNzoP

— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) September 7, 2020

Daniel Theis gotta step in the ring, he’s ready pic.twitter.com/lgyt9LWmQM

— Galvino 🌸 (@CGalvino03) September 8, 2020

Pascal Siakam hit Daniel Theis with the Sweet Chin Music pic.twitter.com/EvMZb9rYdh

— carlos (@CountOnCarlos) September 7, 2020

Pascal Siakam did his best Edson Barboza impression last night, but it did nothing to save the Raptors from a pretty humiliating L. pic.twitter.com/Z324Gsl3eb

— Tom Taylor (@TomTayMMA) September 8, 2020

Thankfully, Theis was able to shake-off this accidental blow from Siakam without issue, and the pair quickly dismissed the issue in a classy display on the court.

The Celtics ended up crushing Siakam and his Raptors by a significant 111-89 margin, moving to 3-2 in what’s been a thrilling series so far. The team will look to put a stamp on the series on Wednesday, while the Raptor’s will be desperate to keep their championship dreams alive by tying things up.

While Siakam has had his moments in this year’s NBA playoffs, he’s been a shadow of the player he was when the team captured the championship in 2019—much to the chagrin of coach Nick Nurse.

“I’m not sure why he’s been so out of rhythm since the restart,” Nurse said of Siakam post-game (via Josh Lewenberg of TSN). “He hasn’t had a lot of great games… It’s too bad because he was spectacular in last year’s playoffs & he was spectacular all season long.”