Toronto Raptors power forward Serge Ibaka has warned that despite the important victory this morning against the Boston Celtics (93-100) to tie the semifinal tie of the Eastern Conference, they still have “work to do” , highlighting that they are “hungry” and maintain a hundred percent desire to revalidate the NBA title in the “bubble” of Orlando.
“We know we still have work to do, we knew it before the game, but we have in mind that the work is not done yet because we have been here before. We are still hungry. We have to focus on the next game because this one is over, there is still work to do, “he said after the game in statements collected by NBA.com.
The Hispanic-Congolese came off the bench to sign 18 points, with 4 of 4 in triples, and 7 rebounds, and helped the Canadians come back from 2-0 against and tied the tie (2-2), something that they already achieved in the 2019 Conference Finals against the Milwaukee Bucks. “What we learned from last year is that it is not over until it really is over. It is about continuing to push, continuing to believe until the end. We have that mentality, that’s why we never give up,” he said.
On the other hand, he defended the work of Marc Gasol, who started but showed a great lack of success in the face of the basket (40%) before being eliminated by fouls. “I think Marc’s work is not seen much because he does many small things. He defends very well, is very big, protects the paint and passes the ball very well in attack. For us with that his work is already important because in the end We have a lot of scorers. If Marc scores very well, but if not, what he does is much more important than scoring, “he said.
Finally, Ibaka praised the work done by the coaching staff led by Nick Nurse. “Right now, all the work of the coaches is very important because we don’t have a lot of rest time after games, so all the details are very important. Our coaches are doing a great job watching the videos and this is helping us a lot, “he concluded.
