New Found Respect For Oklahoma City Thunder's Serge Ibaka

Sun, 06/03/2012 - 11:06am — senh

I’ve always known Serge Ibaka as a shot blocker. He’s almost like a younger, smaller version of Ben Wallace without the rebounding. He plays the power forward and center positions for the Oklahoma City Thunder.

In yesterday’s NBA Western Conference Finals game against the San Antonio Spurs, he was a perfect 11 for 11, scoring 26 points mostly from mid-range jumpers. I didn’t know he’s so accurate outside of the painted area. In the past games I’ve seen him play, he’s only good for put-backs.

Maybe he’s always been a pretty good shooter, but for his team, which already has three gunners - Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden - he sacrifices his shooting game to focus on shot-blocking and rebounds.

It was Ibaka's smooth jumpers that made San Antonio coach Gregg Poppovich move his best defender Stephen Jackson away from Durant to defend him, which, in hindsight, was a huge mistake. Durant went a scoring spree against San Antonio's smaller defenders and put the game away.

Sections:  note from the editor   
SENH'S LATEST BLOG ENTRIES
  • "Storm The Gates" Mobile Game
    My friends just launched a mobile game called "Storm the Gates"! It's available on both Android and iOS. I'm not much of a gamer, so I didn't know what to do when I started it. But my 9-year-old son turned it on and knew exactly what to do. More
  • "Ip Man 3" Has New Release Date in China and Posters to Prove It
    Over at MoviesWithButter.com, I’ve written two articles regarding “Ip Man 3,” the film that’s holding its own in Asian territories against “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” If you’re not familiar with Asian cinema,”Ip Man” one of the most popular franchises in that area of the world. More
  • Live-Blogged The Golden Globes at MWB
    Yesterday, I live-blogged The Golden Globes -- for various reasons. First, it gets traffic. Second, I might as well do something useful while watching TV. Lastly, I was looking forward to seeing Ricky Gervais host the event again. Nothing against Tina Fey and Amy Poehler, but he’s my favorite. A google search revealed that the last time I did this for this award show was More
  • Kings vs. Mavs: Ominous Stats, News for Sacramento Before Game
    The preview on NBA.com and the injury report from SactownRoyalty.com don’t look good for the Sacramento Kings going into tonight’s game against the playoff-bound Dallas Mavericks. More
  • What?! Kings Beat Thunder, 116-104
    (Image from the Sacramento Bee. Click here to view more images from the game.) What a win. It was a wild one, especially in the first half. We [Sacramento Kings] were down by 17 in the first quarter. In frustration, I was about to turn off the TV, but the teaml called a timeout. More
More
SENH'S RELATED BLOG ENTRIES
  • NBA Finals: OKC, You Let Me Down
    Between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder, I was rooting for the team in a small town. I was also rooting against Lebron James. More
  • NBA Finals: I Was Rooting for Old Fart vs. Old Fart
    I know it would probably be the most boring NBA Finals ever, but I was kinda rooting for the old farts - San Antonio Spurs and Boston Celtics. I wouldn’t mind if either wins another title, especially the Boston Celtics. More
  • NBA Playoffs: It's Over for San Antonio Spurs
    I agree with Charles Barkley, it's over for the San Antonio Spurs. They haven't shown that they could win a game in Oklahoma City. The two games they played there, they lost convincingly - one of which was a blowout. The Thunder and their fans will be fired up and ready to go for Game 6. The Thunder seemed to the Spurs all figured out. More
  • Ibaka's Game 4 Performance Was A Fluke, According to Hoopdata.com
    From Foxsports: “According to hoopdata.com, Ibaka was a bitter 25 percent this season on shots taken within 10-15 feet of the rim. In Game 4, he was 6 for 6. Perkins made 21 percent of his attempts from that range during the season, but made 2 of the 3 he unleashed Saturday night.” More
  • In Celtics-Heat Series, Refs Favoring Heat So Far
    I’ve been watching the Boston Celtics battle the Miami Heat in the NBA Eastern Conference Finals, and so far the referees seem to favor Miami. I’ve written about the obvious late non-call on Dwyane Wade when he slapped Rajon Rondo’s face during a layup in game two. More

 

Comment On This Story