Toronto Raptors point guard Kyle Lowry says Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka are speaking Spanish on the floor when the two are playing together.
Ibaka and Gasol have played on the Spanish national team together. Raptors head coach Nick Nurse has been pairing the two big men together lately and it's helping Toronto make things difficult for the Philadelphia 76ers on offense.
Via Michael Grange of Toronto Sports Net:
The problem is whatever the Sixers look at doing, Gasol has seen before. And it’s likely going to continue to be more difficult for Embiid given the Raptors seem committed to pairing Gasol with fellow big Serge Ibaka in a defensive lineup that has choked the 76ers in Games 4 and 5, holding them to 86.7 points per 100 possessions in 37 minutes together. For reference, the best two-man defensive rating during the regular season this year was 87.1.
“They’re being good together,” said Lowry. “They’re out on the floor talking Spanish [Ibaka and Gasol have played on the Spanish national team together]. We don’t understand what they’re saying, but whatever they’re doing, they got to keep it up. But just being big and being athletic and being strong, we need that.”
The Raptors won Games 4 and 5 and are one game away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.
Gasol is averaging 9.4 points and 5.0 rebounds in the series against the Sixers while shooting 43.6 percent from the field. He's been playing great defense on Sixers star Joel Embiid.
Ibaka, meanwhile, is putting up 7.0 points and 4.6 rebounds off the Raptors' bench.
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