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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO – We can all take something from Serge Ibaka’s long journey back to the NBA Finals.

His first experience playing into June came with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2012, the lockout shortened season. They won the first game of the series, then lost four straight to the Miami Heat. It was LeBron James’ first championship.

Naturally, Ibaka and his teammates were disappointed but there was one consolation: they knew they would be back.

“In our mind, in my mind, I was like we’re young and we’re going to keep getting better,” Ibaka recalls. “We’re going to come back again and again.”

They weren’t the only ones excited about the future of that Thunder team. Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook and James Harden and Ibaka, all of them under 24-years-old – they could have been special.

A few months later, Harden was traded to Houston. Durant left for Golden State in 2016. Ibaka was moved to Orlando in 2017. Oklahoma City never did get another shot at the title.

Now, seven years later and 10 seasons into his NBA career, Ibaka is finally returning to The Finals, this time as a member of the Toronto Raptors. His path has been bumpy with some unexpected twists and turns along the way – a brief stint with the Magic, a trade to Toronto, a humbling postseason experience, and a full-time move to the bench – but it’s given him new perspective on how hard it is to get this far.

“Nothing’s easy, man,” said the 29-year-old Congolese forward, whose team is preparing to host the Golden State Warriors in Game 1 on Thursday. “Nothing’s easy. You have to work for things. There’s going to be some ups and downs, but don’t give up. Keep fighting. Keep working. Now I’m here, I’m back again.”

It’s an important lesson, for players and fans alike: appreciate the ride and don’t take it for granted because tomorrow isn’t promised. You never know what the future holds, especially in the NBA.

The Raptors and their fan base should be able to relate. It’s taken them a long 24 years to reach this pinnacle and, given the unique nature of their situation, there’s a greater-than-normal risk that their success could be fleeting.

With their best player, Kawhi Leonard, a month away from hitting the open market, there’s a wide range of potential outcomes for the Raptors, even if we’re only looking a year into the future. Maybe Leonard chooses to stay in Toronto and they take the baton from James and his former teams as perennial beasts atop the East. On the extreme opposite end of the spectrum, maybe he leaves and it takes them another quarter century to make it back here. Nobody knows, which is what makes this moment worth savouring. Enjoy it Raptors fans, Ibaka certainly plans to.

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Arguably the best team of all-time, the Warriors are the exception, not the rule. This is their fifth straight trip to The Finals – they’re the first team to accomplish that feat since 1966, when there were only nine clubs in the league.

It isn’t just the big stage that excites Ibaka, it’s also the opponent.

The closest those Thunder teams ever got to making another Finals appearance was in 2016, when they faced Golden State in the Semis. Oklahoma City was up 3-1 in the series and they had the Warriors on the brink of elimination. They were one win away.

In league history, 244 teams have taken a 3-1 lead in a best-of-seven. Only 11 of them (4 per cent) have blown it and gone on to lose the series. Perhaps the most famous – or infamous – example is Golden State, who coughed up a 3-1 advantage to James and the Cavaliers in the Finals that same season. However, OKC did it just a few weeks earlier.

The Thunder had three chances to close out the series, but Game 6 was the one that really got away. They led by eight points going into the fourth quarter, when the Warriors did what the Warriors do.

Klay Thompson got hot and hit five of his six three-point attempts in the frame. Steph Curry also hit a couple. Together, Golden State’s all-star guards combined for 27 of the team’s 33 points over the final 12 minutes. They won that game by seven points.

Was that the worst loss of Ibaka’s career?

“Yes, of course yes,” he said, admitting that it still haunts him to this day. “Come on, man. 3-1 in the Semi-finals of the NBA. I don’t see any tougher loss than that.”

“Anytime I think about it, man, it still hurts. It still hurts.”

Later that summer, Durant signed with the team that knocked them out, the Warriors. Would he still be in OKC if the Thunder had finished the job and defeated Golden State to make it back to The Finals that year? Did that series alter the course of history in the NBA?

Ibaka declined to speculate. He’s just relieved to have a shot at redemption.

“I’m so thankful now that I have another opportunity to go play against them,” he said. “They’re one of the best offensive teams in the last 10 years, now I have another opportunity to go compete against them, so I’m thankful for this.”

Whether or not Durant is able to play in this series – he’s already been ruled out for Game 1 with his calf injury – the Warriors are considered overwhelming favourites. They’ve earned that right. The Raptors are the challengers. They’re new to this stage, at least as a team. However, they’ve got a few guys that know what to expect from Golden State.

In addition to Ibaka, Danny Green faced the Warriors in three career playoff series with the Spurs. Marc Gasol played them once when he was in Memphis. Leonard has seen them twice, including the 2017 Conference Finals when he came down on the foot of Zaza Pachulia and suffered the ankle injury that knocked him out of the rest of that postseason.

They haven’t learned anything about the Warriors that we didn’t already know: they’re really good and can go on big, demoralizing, game and series-swinging runs at any moment. The difference is, having lived it and having seen it firsthand, maybe those guys will be better prepared to withstand those avalanches.

“It helps in terms of knowing how great they are as an offensive team,” Ibaka said. “Sometimes it’s tough when you don’t know and you just go out there and play with the flow of the game and then they’re going to beat you so bad. The fact that we already know how great they are – not [just] good, but a great offensive team – that’s helped us to be prepared mentally.”

The Raptors’ offence has been up and down throughout the postseason, as they’ve struggled to knock down open shots. They ranked fifth among 30 teams in offensive efficiency during the regular season, but they’re slotted ninth among 16 teams in the playoffs. It’s been their second-ranked defence that has carried them through.

Make no mistake, they’ll need to score if they’re going to keep up with the Warriors, but their defence will also need to be a factor. They’re not going to stop Golden State and they know it. Even slowing them down will be a challenge. The Warriors will throw their punches and make their runs. Curry and Thompson will have those out-of-body experiences where they can’t miss, regardless of where they are on the floor or how much defensive pressure you throw at them. That’s just the reality of facing a team like this.

How the Raptors come out of those stretches will determine whether they have a real shot in this series. Do they fold or do they keep their composure, show that mental toughness we’ve seen from them throughout their postseason run, and answer right back?

“I think that’s a big part of playing against these guys is knowing how hot they get,” Fred VanVleet said. “That’s the playoffs in general, I think. Philly went on some crazy runs against us. I know Milwaukee certainly did a couple of those games. Some of the games we were fine and some we didn’t. We understand what it’s going to take to get [ourselves] out of those situations, and [we’ve] just got to know it’s not going to be a perfect game and there's no perfect game plan. You're not going to play perfect. So you've just got to weather the storm, stay locked in, keep competing and keep fighting. If they make a couple in a row, keep taking the ball out, take it down the other way, and let it fly. So just got to continue to keep scrapping and playing our game, and I think the rest will take care of itself.”

“They just keep moving, it’s non-step,” said Ibaka. “[Curry] and [Thompson] and Draymond [Green], the way they push the ball out there. It’s one of those teams where you have to be focused for 48 minutes. You cannot relax because if you relax and they get hot it’s going to be a long night.”​