A lot of time is spent waiting for Serge Ibaka, which is not a bad thing in the least and a simple fact of Raptors life.
He’s always the last one out of practice. Maybe it’s 40 minutes, maybe it’s an hour but he’s working, going through his routine generally right in front of the waiting reporters. Elbow jumpers. Pick-and-roll jumpers. Baby hooks in the lane. Catch-and-shoot three-pointers. Work. Work. Relentless work. A metronome.
Post-game? There are shots to get up, treatment to get, showers to take, a body and a mind to take care of. The hustle and bustle of the post-game locker room flows and ebbs and Ibaka goes about his business in his own time.
And in games? The games matter the most and the wait is often well worth it.
“I remember Rex used to tell me this, Rex Kalamian (a former Raptors assistant), because he had him in OKC,” Toronto coach Nick Nurse said. “You’d be saying, ‘Serge isn’t doing much,’ and he’d say, ‘Wait, just wait, he’ll get going.’
“And he does that a lot, tt’s an interesting part of who he is. You got to stay with him sometimes because he does make some big plays at both ends of the floor late, or middle late.”
Nurse was speaking in the aftermath of Ibaka’s best statistical game of the playoffs, a 20-point, 13-rebound gem in Game 3 against Brooklyn on Friday.
Ibaka entered the game as he usually does, late in the first quarter to spell starting centre Marc Gasol. Things didn’t start well — Ibaka missed his first four shots — but then he rattled off eight makes in a row.
It’s patience. Like it always is with Ibaka.
“You always try to do better, you always try to get better in this game,” he said. “After the game you always watch tape and you always try to figure out (ways to improve).
“Even when we get a (win) we always try to figure out a way to get better because we know the further we keep going in the playoffs, the more difficult the game is gonna be.”
One thing that helps Ibaka get going offensively each game is playing alongside Fred VanVleet. The two have developed a sense of timing in pick-and-roll action that gets one of them an open shot more often that not.
Again, it comes from patience.
“The best thing about me and Serge is we continue to communicate with each other, possession to possession, game to game, practice to practice,” VanVleet said. “We keep talking. He’s telling me what he’s seeing. I’m telling him what I’m seeing. We both like to shoot open shots. We keep trying to find each other and find that chemistry. I think it took some time for Serge to trust me and vice versa. We keep continuing to work on that relationship. Hopefully we can keep it going in the future.”
Ibaka said he always finds willing listeners in those conversations, which is hardly surprising given the number of open shots it gets teammates like VanVleet.
“The great thing about this is, my point guards, they really like to listen, they like to listen,” Ibaka said. ”Every time I go talk to them, I say, ‘Listen, next time I’m going to set a screen on the other side, then I’m going to roll, and so that’s the good thing about them.”
Ibaka’s play — more his defence than his offence — will be central to whatever prolonged success the Raptors have after they get by the Brooklyn Nets. They can end the series in four games Sunday.
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The Boston Celtics are likely second-round opponents — they lead Philadelphia 3-0 and can close out their series Sunday — and the frontcourt duo of Daniel Theis and Enes Kanter can be relentless rebounders. Ibaka also is going to have to switch out and guard on the perimeter while getting back to protect the rim.
It’s a tall order but not something he’s incapable of. It just takes time.
“He’s been a beast for us on the defensive end, and on the glass,” VanVleet said.
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