Five takeaways from Toronto Raptors commanding Game 4 win

Serge Ibaka makes his imprint

Serge Ibaka has been up-and-down throughout this postseason. After being the team’s primary starting center for most of the regular season, he was sequestered to the bench for the playoffs. His role has waxed and waned depending on the moment.

However, that’s never impacted his effort or intensity on the court. Prior to the start of the series, there were rumblings Ibaka was due for a larger workload if Gasol couldn’t stay on the floor. That hasn’t occurred so far, as Gasol has been more-or-less solid during these Finals.

Ibaka struggled early in the series. He made poor decisions, he couldn’t hit a shot, he wasn’t impacting the game defensively. Then, during the second half of Game 3, something clicked. Serge Ibaka started to feel more comfortable on both ends of the court.

In Game 4, he finished with 20 points in 22 minutes, going 9-12 from the field and recording two blocks. Everything Ibaka was doing was working. He was getting to the rim, he was hitting feathery jump hooks, he even dialed it up from the perimeter. Without Serge Ibaka, the Raptors don’t win this game.

Ibaka has now come up huge in two critical Raptors wins. Game 7 against the Philadelphia 76ers when he scored 17 and now this. He won’t be the first name mentioned when discussing this historical Raptors season, but the team wouldn’t be where it was without him.