Let the trash talk begin; Serge Ibaka say “LeBron is not a good defender”; James responds back – NBA Update
Serge Ibaka the third year Oklahoma City Thunder power forward who has developed a reputation for being one of the best shot blockers in the league called out LeBron James before the all important Game 4 of the NBA Finals.
Taking a shot at the player who got the most votes in the All-NBA First Defensive Team, Ibaka said, as reported by Tom D”Angelo of The Palm Beach Post,;
“LeBron is not a good defender. He can play defense for two to three minutes but not 48 minutes.”
He then brought up the LeBron-Durant comparison;
“LeBron can’t play (Durant) one-on-one,” Ibaka said. “They’re playing good defense like a team.”
The reality is quite on the contrary though. LeBron has been having one h**l of a series do far and has put the Miami Heat one win shy of their second NBA title.
Not only has been aggressive on the offense, making more and more crunch plays, the King has been sensational on the D as well. Erik Spoelstra employed Shane Battier to guard Kevin Durant in Game 1 of the Finals and the result
was a 36 point pounding, but ever since James has been assigned on KD, his numbers have dropped down significantly.
In the last three games, Durant has scored at an average of 28.25 points on a 32-of-60 shooting from the floor. It doesn’t end here though. LeBron has also been the root cause of Durant’s fouling troubles, which hurt the Thunder
quite badly in Game 2 and 3.
When asked about Ibaka’s comments at shootaround on Tuesday morning, James was dismissive;
“I don’t really care about what he says,” James said of Ibaka. “For me, as a defender, I just try to make plays. I try to keep my body in front of such a great player.
“I’m not sitting here saying that I’m a Durant stopper, because there’s no such thing. I’ve got to rely on my defense behind me to communicate with me. But I don’t really care what he says. It’s stupid. Everyone says something
to me every series. You guys keep trying to get a quote from me.”
This is the first time that Ibaka has ranted publically about an opposition player, and it shows because he certainly didn’t pick out the right man.
The verbal shot only seemed to get the better out of James, who was only one rebound shy of a triple-double with 26 points, 12 assists and 9 rebound in the 104-88 Game 4 win.
James also had two steal as compared to one by Ibaka, who finished Game 4 with just 4 points, 7 rebounds and 1 block.
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