It has been a wonderful year and a difficult one for Serge Ibaka, who has moved from starter to backup to starter to backup like a human toggle switch.
He has had good games when he’s been a star, bad games when he’s disappeared, and so-so games when he’s been a non-factor in this historic Raptors run. And sometimes that all happens in the same game.
Like one magical Friday night in Oakland, when Ibaka was instrumental in the Raptors taking command of the NBA Finals against the Golden State Warriors.
He finished with 20 points, four rebounds and a pair of emphatic blocked shots, much of that coming in the series-shifting second half of Toronto’s 105-92 win.