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Serge Ibaka is Back and (Possibly) Better Than Ever

The Toronto Raptors traded for Serge Ibaka because they hoped he could still be the dominant defender he once was. So far, in these playoffs, he has been.
Photo by Dan Hamilton - USAToday Sports

The Toronto Raptors pulled the trigger on a trade for Serge Ibaka with the sort of long-shot hope endemic to semi-contenders. Ibaka spent much of this season playing solid enough basketball on a zombified Orlando Magic team; the Raptors got him in hopes that he could morph back into the glass-cleaning difference maker he used to be as a vital part of some excellent Thunder teams. Seven games into Toronto's postseason campaign, the metrics say that the gamble is paying off, and that the old Ibaka back. It's a supremely small sample, but Serge Ibaka might be responsible for the most impressive individual defensive stretch in these NBA Playoffs.

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He's fifth in block percentage after he ranked 21st in last year's postseason (minimum 100 minutes), and is first in shots contested at the rim while somehow allowing the sixth lowest shooting percentage on those attempts (minimum 20 shots defended). Toronto's first-round opponent, the Milwaukee Bucks, shot 52.5 percent within five feet of the hoop when Ibaka was on the floor, and 58 percent when he sat.

Read More: The Raptors Got Punked By The Cavs In Game 1

Again, sure, this is a very small sample. But Ibaka looks better. He looks, for lack of a better term, like Serge Ibaka—he's back to gliding across the paint, back to making decisions like the experienced help defender he is, back to protecting the rim with his old Defensive Player of the Year-worthy defiance. Opponent field goal percentages within six feet of the basket are 21.6 percent below their average when Ibaka is nearby. Sustaining that level of play is highly unlikely, but it's still a ridiculously impressive accomplishment. (The opponent's difference was 2.6 percent when he was with the Magic earlier this season.)

The jewel of Masai Ujiri's trade deadline enveloped Giannis Antetokounmpo with above-the-rim rejections that were ruthless enough to shred even the strongest strands of an All-Star starter's self-confidence and frankly NSFW in their aesthetics. Ibaka forced Thon Maker to question his own existence, and prevented Greg Monroe from establishing himself as a bully on the block.

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Decent ups tbh. Photo by Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

He completely and comprehensively took over the paint, in other words, and has the chops and versatility to keep it up. "If there's issues with Valanciunas, foul wise or minutes wise or whatever, [Ibaka] is able to fill in as kind of a power five as well because he's got the physical body to do that." Raptors assistant coach Nick Nurse told VICE Sports.

Ibaka's influence bleeds all over Toronto's game-to-game strategy, but his resurrected dominance on the defensive end is a necessary relief. The Raptors don't need Ibaka to block shots as well as he used to, but they'll need his physical skills—the versatility, length, speed, and strength that made him great, and that are matched by few defenders that ever played.

Also they need them now. Toronto acquired him to transform their defense at the time of year when defense matters most. Ibaka allows the Raptors to be more aggressive covering pick and rolls, dance in and out of different coverages that require a big who's fast enough to help and recover. By staying high on the floor, Ibaka can stifle an opposing guard's penetration and then scramble back to snuff out his original assignment.

Late in Game 1's third quarter, during Toronto's second-round series against the defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers, Ibaka defended a Kyrie Irving-Tristan Thompson screen-and-roll above the three-point line. Sensing that his man was occupied, Thompson barreled towards the rim and caught a lob pass from Irving right around the free-throw line.

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DeMar DeRozan was guarding J.R. Smith on the weak side, so he couldn't afford to slide all the way over and plug it up. Nine times out of 10 this is a dunk, but Ibaka read it perfectly and scampered back to meet Thompson on the catch. He positioned himself between the ball and the basket, forcing Cleveland's starting center to pick up his dribble and pass back to LeBron James at the elbow. Crisis averted.

So good he can do it with his eyes closed. Photo by Ken Blaze - USAToday Sports

Ibaka at the five may be the answer to Toronto's prayers. During the regular season, the team's net rating was +11.6 whenever he played without Jonas Valanciunas on the floor. That tumbled by nearly 12 points when they shared the court. In the four games they've played together in these playoffs, the Raptors' defense has allowed 133.5 points per 100 possessions. When it's just Ibaka as the lone big, that number falls to a dominant 95.4.

It's hard to call anything a huge success from Monday's Game 1 loss, but after the Raptors were nearly run off the court with Valanciunas as the starting center, Dwane Casey began the second period extremely small, with Ibaka, Kyle Lowry, Norm Powell, P.J. Tucker, and Cory Joseph. That group was +7 in about six minutes. They helped spark a surprising 19-3 run against Cleveland's typically unstoppable LeBron And The Bench unit. Ibaka didn't block a shot in 32 minutes, but his presence elsewhere helped the Raptors switch with more fluidity and keep the ball in front of them as much as they possibly could.

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Heading into the rematch of last year's Eastern Conference Finals, the Raptors were excited about throwing Ibaka into the mix and seeing how he could leverage all that versatility on the defensive end against Cleveland's various frontcourt weapons. "They've got a cast of big players. Love and Frye obviously are stretch bigs and Love can go in and out. Hopefully [Ibaka] can help on both those guys and then obviously you've got Thompson, so he's a tough character to keep off the boards," Nurse said. "So we're gonna have to see which guys he matches up better on and he'll probably get chances at all of them. And we'll see what happens and make the adjustments as we go.

An intimidating rim protector who also shoots threes is a luxury every smart team in the league wishes they had. But when Toronto traded for Ibaka, it was not clear that he still was such a player, or that he'd ever reach this previous peak. He was a huge disappointment for the Magic, but it's hard to weigh whether those struggles were due to how they used him—mostly as a power forward instead of a stretch five, on both ends—or how the team's relentless losing impacted his focus and effort.

But even earlier than that, Ibaka rarely played center with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Approximately 83 percent of his total regular-season minutes in seven seasons was at the four, according to Basketball-Reference. In the playoffs, that number takes a slight dip down to 81 percent. Things were even worse in Orlando, but his time spent at the five nearly doubled after he was traded to the Raptors.

"Obviously they won a lot of games in OKC, but he was clearly a, I don't know, a fourth, fifth option possibly at the other end," Nurse said. "And here we needed him at both ends. And I think he didn't get as involved in Orlando…I don't know where he ranked as far as where they were on getting him shots and using him at the offensive end so, we've been able to do that, too."

Ibaka's usage rate in last year's postseason was 13 percent. Right now it's at a career playoff high of 21.9 percent. He's struggled with his shot quite a bit, but the Raptors went to him as a pick-and-pop big throughout Game 1, as Cleveland opted to trap the ball—Kyle Lowry, mostly—without rotating a help defender over in time. Ibaka made all three of his three-point attempts, but struggled elsewhere, missing a point-blank bunny and a few step-in jumpers. That will probably even out, but it's his work on the defensive end that might potentially alter this series' entire dynamic. Casey would be wise to start Game 2 small, and put DeMarre Carroll on Love, Ibaka on Thompson, and Tucker on LeBron.

There are no easy answers, here, and cutting Valanciunas completely out of the rotation could lead to a total bludgeoning on the glass. But if this series is going to be won behind the three-point line, utilizing Ibaka's reemergence as an elite paint protector who lets Toronto scramble around and wreak a little havoc is key. The Raptors are down, and the Cavaliers are tough, but Ibaka gives them a chance. There might be nothing more complimentary to say about his postseason renaissance than that—Ibaka's recent brilliance makes the impossible seem within reach.

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