If you are an Oklahoma City Thunder fan and watched the Thunder face the Orlando Magic Sunday, you might be asking yourself; “Who the hell is this guy on the Magic wearing number seven.” Believe it or not, that man is former Thunder, Serge Ibaka. Now your second question might be; “why the hell didn’t he play like this for the past two years when he was with the Thunder?” The only answer to that question is vengeance = focus.
Ibaka came to Chesapeake Energy Arena and showed Thunder fans what they will be missing. He scored a career-high 31 points, got four blocks (a season high), and got nine rebounds (a season high). If you looked at Serge, you would have though he got a time machine, and brought back the Ibaka of the 2012-2013 season. A special moment of the game was when Steven Adams tried to dunk on Ibaka in one play but got denied by the former teammate twice as Ibaka gave the signature two thumbs down after the play. Ibaka also showed his former team that he can still work low in the post making 11 shots out of 17. What was even more surprising is he was 100% from beyond the arc, making 2 out of 2. If you still are not impressed, Ibaka made the game-winning jumper with two seconds left on the clock to come out victorious. If the general manager, Sam Presti got this Serge every night, then he probably would have never traded him.
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The new Orlando Magic got traded for Victor Oladipo, Ersan Ilyasova, and the rights of Domantas Sabonis. This was the right move, especially with Ibaka going on a deep decline. The former two-time leader in blocks wasn’t doing his job defensively for OKC. A guy who use to average close to four blocks a game in the 2011-2012 season was barely averaging two in his last two years in OKC. Serge Ibaka the “shot blocka” was looking more like Serge Ibaka the “shot stalka.”
He migrated from a post player to waiting at the perimeter just to shoot three-pointers. In his first five years with the Thunder, he attempted 123 three-pointers and in his last two years, he took 389. That is a ridiculous climb for a guy who is only supposed to keep his hands up and give the thumbs down after an emphatic block. You would think that him elevating his game would make him better, but it made him the complete opposite. When he spent the majority of his time in the post averaging 30 minutes, he would finish the season with over a thousand points. That’s a huge number, especially when you are sharing the ball with superstars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. When he started shooting long range jumpers, he ended the season under a thousand. A wise man once said, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Ibaka must have never heard that quote the way he was trying to play.
Now in Orlando, Ibaka is looking to become a leader for the Magic. He is still trying to figure out his role in Orlando averaging 14.3 points a game and close to six rebounds a game, but maybe the game against the Thunder brings a re”serge”nces to the one-time defensive mastermind.
