Raptors’ Ibaka looks to rebound from shooting woes
Serge Ibaka had gone through another tough shooting night. He’d had open looks, and missed them at key junctures of a Raptors loss. He was downcast, confused and searching for something.
The veteran forward turned to teammate C.J. Miles and asked for advice, something that Miles, a noted three-point shooting specialist, could offer from his own experience.
Miles had a simple answer: Don’t change a thing.
“I knew he was thinking about it because he asked me about my routine,” Miles said Monday afternoon, after the Raptors got in a much-needed practice and a lengthy film session. “Like how many shots would I take after a game like that? I told him you’ve got to stick with doing what you do.
“You’re never as far away as you think, so never get too high or too low.”
As Miles was saying that, Ibaka was no more than 30 feet away, going through his lengthy postpractice routine: catch-and-shoot three-pointers from five spots along the three-point arc, onedribble pull-up jumpers, feigned pick-and-pop jumpers. It’s a routine the 28-year-old Ibaka goes through every day.
“The key is confidence right now,” Miles said. “He’s missed some shots. It happens. That’s the only reason you’re asking me the question because he missed shots. He’s still doing all the other things he does. He’s having a great year, as are most guys, he’s just missed some shots.”
Missing a high rate, too. In his last 10 games, Ibaka has shot just 13-for-41 from beyond the arc, a tough 32 per cent. Many of his misses have been open looks, ramping up his frustration.
“Shooting is like in baseball, you’re going to have some games where you just can’t make a bucket,” Raptors head coach Dwane Casey said.
But even if Ibaka is misfiring, there’s no way Casey or his teammates are going to tell him stop shooting.
First, they know he’s capable of turning it around with even the slightest bit of luck — a couple rattle in and the confidence boost is legitimate — and, second, the Raptors benefit even from his misses.
Ibaka’s impact in the last eight games of the regular season and into the playoffs has to be more than shooting, though. His rim protection is vital and, in the 10-game period when his shot has been off, he’s been averaging 6.9 rebounds per game, slightly above average for his season. He has provided an interior presence more often than not. But even that can improve, Casey said, as long as Ibaka concentrates on that aspect of the game.
“It’s something we’re always talking about with him … his rebounding,” Casey said.
“Continue to rebound, continue to attack the glass and make himself felt. He can do that. Serge is one of the toughest guys in the league. He’s real tough. You don’t want to cross him. He’s got to utilize that in the paint with rebounding.”