OKLAHOMA CITYâ€"Call him what you will. Serge I-block-a if you must.
The Oklahoma City Thunder win 109-103 to even their series with the San Antonio Spurs. Serge Ibaka was 11-of-11 for 26 points Saturday. (AP Photo)
But Ibaka was so much more than a nickname Saturday night. He was a Serge protector, sure, guarding the rim as always. But he was also a Sergeon on the offensive end, sinking all 11 of his shot attempts in scoring a career playoff high 26 points.
“Serge and destroy†would’ve been a good motto for the Thunder in Game 4’s 109-103 victory, which evened the best-of-seven Western Conference finals at 2-2.
Actually, enough with the silly plays on words. Besides, the Thunder didn’t destroy the Spurs. They merely beat them, on a night when the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed refused to surrender.
Time and again, the Thunder pushed their lead into double digits, and time and again the Spurs whittled the score to a two-possession difference. In the third quarter, OKC led 68-53 following an Ibaka jumper, but the Spurs closed to 73-71 on a Manu Ginobili 3-pointer and entered the final period down by four.
Also, Ibaka wasn’t even the biggest individual story for the winners by the time it was over. It was Kevin Durant, as it’s supposed be. After the Spurs scored to make it 86-82 with 6:54 left to play, the Durantulaâ€"wait, we said we were done with nicknamesâ€"made his mark as a closer, scoring 16 consecutive OKC points until a James Harden three effectively iced the game with 1:04 remaining.
Durant has now had his moment in this series. Many of his teammatesâ€"Ibaka, Harden, Kendrick Perkins, Thabo Sefoloshaâ€"are at the top of their games.
The Spurs still have home-court advantage in the series, but they are in severe danger. The Thunder are rolling.
When the teams left San Antonio after Game 2, the series might not have seemed destined for seven games. The Spurs had won 20 straight, after all.
Now? It still may not seem destined for seven games. OKC in six sounds about right to us.
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