TORONTO – Midway through the fourth quarter of Game 2 in the Toronto Raptors’ first-round series with the Brooklyn Nets, Toronto forward Serge Ibaka posted up Nets defender Caris LeVert, received a pass from teammate Fred VanVleet and easily floated home a turnaround jump hook.
It was a big bucket that put the Raptors up three as they fought to hold onto that eventual Game 2 victory on Wednesday, and it appeared to unlock an even bigger revelation for the Raptors.
During the game, the Nets made a point of trying to switch everything, something that took Toronto by surprise as the team struggled offensively throughout.
The Raptors’ bigs, in particular, had a rough go of it, with Ibaka and Marc Gasol combining for just eight points and 10 rebounds on 3-for-11 shooting.
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However, because the Nets were constantly switching, there were some mismatches to be had and that play Ibaka made against LeVert was a perfect example of it.
In the fourth quarter, Ibaka scored six points and looked to create the blueprint for what was to come just a couple days later.
On Friday, Ibaka had a 20-point, 13-rebound double-double while shooting 8-of-12 from the field and 3-for-3 from three-point range, as the Raptors took a 3-0 series stranglehold with a 117-92 win. Ibaka’s performance was thanks to lessons he learned from the struggles in the previous contest.
“In Game 2, as a team, they did a better job of putting me and Marc in tough situations, especially in pick and roll or when we go inside,” Ibaka said after Game 3. “But then the good thing about this game is we always learn from our mistakes and try to do better. I just came in (with) the mindset of trying to do better, just being active on offence and just moving, playing hard.”
Specifically, Ibaka came up with a game plan to attack and punish the Nets’ switching, finding soft spots and hunting better matchups for himself.
“I just came with a different mindset that if they switch I’m gonna go out there and go for an offensive rebound, be active and find the open spot,” Ibaka said. “That’s what I did.”
The fact Ibaka was able to make such a drastic and impactful mid-series adjustment has to be good news for the Raptors — particularly when looking ahead a little.
Should the Raptors go on and close out the Nets, as expected of a team enjoying a 3-0 series lead, their likely second-round opponent would be the Boston Celtics, who have looked equally as dominant in their opening-round series with the Philadelphia 76ers.
As the Nets have attempted to do, the Celtics play a defensive scheme predicated on switching. Given that it’s their primary defensive philosophy, Boston executes this defensive scheme better than Nets.
But the way Ibaka has figured out how to attack this scheme against Brooklyn still figures to be something useful for the Raptors to keep in their back pocket for that potential series.
Given the near-insurmountable odds stacked against the Nets to come back in this series, the Raptors will be moving on to Round 2 sooner than later. So count Ibaka figuring out a defence that was giving him fits as another piece of important information for the team to store away as they march on in the playoffs.
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