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It has surely been a fall from grace for Toronto Raptors forward Serge Ibaka. In his heyday, Ibaka was a vital member of the Oklahoma City Thunder. With his prolific shot-blocking skills and defense, Ibaka provided the Thunder with a championship pedigree that allowed them to reach the 2012 NBA Finals.
Shortly after, Ibaka has failed to gain the similar success he had in his tenure with the Thunder, even though his personal statistics have remained consistent in the past few years. This season, Ibaka is averaging 12.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game.
Interestingly, Ibaka had shot well from across the court, shooting 49 percent from the field and 35 percent from deep. Yet, his adequate individual play has been overshadowed by some of his bone-head plays in many games.
When Ibaka isn't throwing punches at other players, he is actually still throwing punches at other players. On Wednesday night against the Detroit Pistons, Ibaka lost his temper yet again after saying some indecent words to a referee.
Serge Ibaka had some words for the ref and he was ejected shortly after
(via @clippittv) pic.twitter.com/WtLO7BWgme
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) March 8, 2018
Surely, these incidents aren't a good look for the Raptors power forward. By continually being involved in these sort of incidents, Ibaka is essentially destroying his reputation among the referees. In fact, it is actually more likely that officials will be quicker to throw technical fouls and ejections in Ibaka's way if he doesn't make nice with them.
Though, Ibaka was thrown out of the game quite quickly. The video doesn't capture what he said, but it must have been inflammatory enough to warrant an instantaneous disciplinary reaction from the official.
In any case, the Raptors are currently the best team in the Eastern Conference. Hopefully, this incident doesn't serve as a distraction for this franchise moving forward.
