Serge Ibaka made a dramatic return to the starting line-up and the Oklahoma City Thunder got back into the Western Conference finals.
Ibaka had 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting with seven rebounds and four blocked shots in 30 minutes, as the inspired Thunder rolled the visiting San Antonio Spurs 107-96 on Sunday night to pull within 2-1 in their best-of-seven series match-up.
Ibaka was initially expected to miss the remainder of the post-season after suffering a grade 2 calf strain in the Thunder’s game 6 win against the Los Angeles Clippers on May 15.
However, his status was upgraded on Friday after the swelling went down following treatment. Ibaka went through practice on Saturday and Sunday’s shoot-around before the medical staff gave him the green light to give it a go.
“I tried to give my teammates energy on offence and defence,” Ibaka said. “I tried to be a force in the paint and help us control the rebounds.”
Russell Westbrook scored 26 points, league MVP Kevin Durant had 25 with 10 rebounds and Reggie Jackson netted 15 for the second-seeded Thunder, who avoided falling into an insurmountable 3-0 hole.
“When you talk about a teammate that’s everything you want in a teammate,” Durant said. “I gained so much more respect for Serge for sacrificing himself for the team. Regardless of what happened tonight, that’s something you want beside you.”
The Thunder were dominated inside without Ibaka, their best defender and the league’s top shot-blocker. The Spurs controlled the lane, scoring 120 points en route to a pair of beatings by a combined 52 points.
But Ibaka was back and the power forward made the difference, as the Thunder dominated the boards, 52-36 and controlled the paint, 46-40 for their eighth straight home win over the Spurs.
Argentine Manu Ginobili scored 23 but just three in the second half while Tim Duncan added 16 for the top-seeded Spurs, who were held to a frosty 39.6 per cent from the field in the loss.
