By John Denton
Nov. 13, 2016
OKLAHOMA CITY – When the equivalent of the final credits rolled on a juicy plotline seemingly culled straight from a Hollywood script, Serge Ibaka tugged on a rhinestone-laced black jacket, flashed that million-dollar smile and tried convincing everyone that his performance on Sunday wasn’t personal.
It was the latest unbelievable event to come out of a night that was downright surreal on so many levels for the Orlando Magic power forward.
It would have been one thing had Ibaka simply returned to Oklahoma City – the place where he starred on a championship-level team for seven years – and played well. But merely playing well wouldn’t have been commensurate to the tug of the emotional feelings that Ibaka endured in the hours leading up the game and all throughout the pulse-pounding action.
Even on a night when former teammate Russell Westbrook was at his dizzying, dazzling triple-double best, Ibaka stole the show with beginning-to-end domination that put a resounding exclamation point on his return to OKC.
The 6-foot-10, 235-pound Ibaka capped a career-best 31-point performance with a gusty, game-winning jump shot in the final second that helped the Magic win 119-117 and helped him defeat his former Thunder teammates. All of it – the game-winning shot, the career-best scoring performance, the four-block first quarter and the roaring, standing ovation from the OKC fans – had Ibaka marveling at the theatre that unfolded over a captivating 2-hour, 20-minute Oscar-worthy movie, errrr, game.
``I’m not going to lie to you, it feels good,’’ Ibaka said afterward in a joyous Magic locker room that had mobbed him with cheers and pats on the back minutes earlier. ``Everything – from the shot and the win tonight – it was important for my team.’’
Ibaka had played hundreds of game at Chesapeake Energy Arena over the past seven seasons, including two games in the 2012 NBA Finals and three games in the Western Conference Finals last June, but he had no clue where the visiting locker room was until Sunday night. It was, strangely enough, his first time ever being in OKC as the visitor.
Ibaka came to Oklahoma City in 2009, intimidated by moving to America, nervous about playing in the NBA and unable to communicate because of his lack of English. The tight-knit town always embraced him from the start, he said, and he pointed out earlier this week that playing in a small city like OKC, ``kept my focus on basketball.’’
All of that came to an end last June when the Thunder shockingly dealt him to Orlando in exchange for Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and Ersan Ilyasova. Ibaka, 28, welcomed the opportunity to escape the shadows of Kevin Durant and Westbrook and grow his role in Orlando and also tackle the challenge of getting the Magic into the playoffs.
The weight of it all seemed to be weighing on Ibaka early this season as he came into Sunday averaging just 12.4 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.1 blocks for the 3-6 Magic.
Then there was this: All of the memories created in Oklahoma City, all of the games won while being the equivalent of a defensive-minded body guard for Durant and Westbrook hit Ibaka like a ton of bricks when the Magic arrived in town on Saturday afternoon. His prep for Sunday’s performance actually started 24 hours earlier in his OKC hotel room.
``I was very emotional. I went to bed early (on Saturday) night because I was intense,’’ Ibaka admitted. ``With us passing on the bus (on Saturday), I saw this arena and it was like my body wasn’t (feeling) normal. I had to go to bed early just to get everything calmed down.
``I asked God really to be with me because I couldn’t do it by myself because it was so intense my first time (back in OKC).’’
Much the way players try to set up other players competing in NBA All-Star Games in their hometowns to win the MVP award, Orlando’s roster was determined to set up Ibaka for success on Sunday. The fact that Ibaka came into the game struggling somewhat and still adjusting to playing with new teammates in Orlando mattered very little on a night when he made 13 of 19 shots, didn’t miss from the 3-point line (two of two) or the free throw line (three of three), grabbed nine rebounds and swatted a season-best four shots.
``He didn’t say it, but I know Serge was getting himself up for this game tonight,’’ said Magic guard D.J. Augustin, who played with Ibaka in OKC in parts of the previous two seasons. ``Nobody likes to get traded, especially when you have been somewhere so long. I know that he wanted to come back here and have a good game.’’
And with the outcome hanging in the balance and the Magic possessing the ball with 11 seconds to play, head coach Frank Vogel knew the only logical place to go with the ball was to Ibaka. Little did the coach know at the time, but the big man would bury the nine-foot shot over Steven Adams that proved to be the big finish on a night that was truly storybook in every sort of way.
``You have a feel for the moment and he was the hot hand,’’ Vogel said. ``You’ve got a tied score and you’ve got a guy coming back to play a team that he was with his whole career and we gave him an opportunity to go and win the game.’’
That’s just what Ibaka did, making what he said was his first game-winning basket of a career that has seen him play the sport in his native Africa and in adopted homes in Europe and North America. It was the perfect capper of a homecoming that seemingly had all of the elements of a feel-good movie.
``You just never know and in a basketball game anything can happen,’’ Ibaka said afterward, still somewhat in disbelief of what had just transpired. ``Everything that happened tonight, I just want to thank God because it was not easy with the emotions of being back here. Seeing friends and being so used to playing here for seven years … I just want to thank my teammates and the coaches for the confidence.’’
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