FROM BEYOND THE ARC By: Police Chief Inspector Rico C Santotome Jr (OS), RN, MPM Iba Ka, Serge Ibaka... Congolese-Spanish basketball player Serge Ibaka of the Oklahoma City Thunder proved to be the missing link in his teams Western Conference Finals showdown with highly touted San Antonio after the 6-10 power forward returned from a two-game absence to lead OKC to a morale-boosting home victory over the Spurs in Game Three last Monday. The win trimmed the Thunders series deficit to 1-2 heading into todays Game Four at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in Oklahoma City with OKC aiming to tie the series with yet another convincing triumph. San Antonio went up, 2-0, after the first two games at the AT&T Center in Texas with Ibaka sidelined by an injury suffered in the ballclubs conference semis series with the Los Angeles Clippers. Previous reports revealed that Ibaka was done for the season but fans in Oklahoma City were delighted to see the former No. 24 overall pick by the Seattle Supersonics (renamed /relocated to OKC) way back in 2008 in uniform prior to the start of Game Three and with OKC trailing the seemingly invincible Spurs. Coach Scott Brooks charges only have current Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant and All-Star guard Russell Westbrook to lean on in scoring against San Antonio in the first two games until Ibaka called in healthy for the No. 2 seeded quintet in the West. The result was more than satisfying for OKC fans. While Durant (25 points, 10 caroms and 3 assists) and Westbrook (26 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals and a blocked shot) combined for almost half of OKCs points in the Thunders 106-97 victory a couple of days ago, Ibaka had his fair share of the scoring by tallying 15 markers on top of his seven rebounds and four blocks in 30 minutes of play for Oklahoma City. In his return to active duty, Ibaka defended well against the likes of Tim Duncan (16 points), Aron Baynes (5 markers) and Matt Bonner (scoreless), his SAS counterparts at the power forward position, while rookie Steven Adams made a good account of himself in coming off the OKC bench with his seven markers, nine caroms and four rejections just like Ibaka in a winning effort. In all, it was a total team effort for the Thunder while avoiding a deep 0-3 hole what with guards Reggie Jackson, Jeremy Lamb and veteran Derek Fisher combining for 24 points before the latter left the court with a deep cut in the head. Power forward Nick Collison and shooting guard Thabo Sefolosha were not fielded during the game by Brooks with Ibaka back in action for the quintet. But the bull-strong Ibaka stood out well from the rest of the Thunder in that particular game versus the Spurs with his tough defense, hustle inside the paint and a decent 6-of-7 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 success from the foul line as well. In the local language, Ibaka was naiiba, natatangi and iba ka! (pun intended) during last Mondays match. Having played for Spain during the 2012 London Games where they won the silver medal behind the US as well as during the 2011 FIBA European Championship in Lithuania where Spain took home the gold, Ibaka is a shoo-in for a spot in the Spanish national team lineup for the 2014 FIBA World Cup in late August to be hosted by his current country. During the 2012 London Games, Ibaka was joined by brothers Pau and Marc Gasol, Victor Claver, Rudy Fernandez, Jose Calderon and skipper Juan Carlos Navarro in their silver-medal finish while during the EuroBasket 2013 last year, Spain won the bronze behind a team made up of Ricky Rubio, Marc Gasol, Fernandez, Claver and Calderon but sans Pau Gasol as well as Ibaka. Iba ka talaga, Ibaka! (For comments, you may forward them to my mobile number: 09192777888 or you may send your messages to my E-mail/Facebook account: ricosantotome@yahoo or follow me in my Twitter account: RicSantotomeJr)
Posted on: Mon, 26 May 2014 15:15:17 +0000
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