Toronto Raptors: Whose stock is rising, and Serge Ibaka gets a little heated

Serge Ibaka

We’ll start with the obvious down of the week.

Ibaka’s week prior to this incident was inspiring, averaging 10 points, 8.6 rebounds, and three blocks per game, including his 17 minutes against the Cavaliers.

Serge hosted his second block party in two games, following his five block performance against the Houston Rockets last week. Ibaka made it 10 blocks in two games with another five-block game, this time against the New Orleans Pelicans.

He was just as efficient as usual from the field, scoring 12 points on 6-10 shooting against the Pelicans, coming off of the bench to aide the move of Marc Gasol to the starting lineup on a more consistent basis.

Ibaka undid all of his hard work against the Cavaliers on Monday night, getting into a heated altercation with Marquese Chriss and even coming to blows with the power forward.

Granted, Chriss looked to have hooked Ibaka’s arm as he went up to grab a high pass and then passed comment as Ibaka tumbled to the ground, but Ibaka’s reaction was out of order. The Raptors were down by 14 at the end of the third quarter when everything kicked off, so maybe Serge was just frustrated and let the moment get the better of him.

That’s not the reaction the Raptors need from one of their senior players, and now they’ll be without Serge for two more games. His absence wasn’t an issue against the Lakers and likely won’t be too much of an issue against the Detroit Pistons and New York Knicks, but this could so have easily happened in the playoffs. Then we would have a real problem on our hands.

And to think, Ibaka had almost gone a whole season without punching someone in the face.