Oklahoma City Thunder forward Serge Ibaka reportedly disagrees with the diagnosis of his injury and hopes to play in the Western Conference finals against the San Antonio Spurs. The Thunder, though, plan to be cautious and keep Ibaka sidelined.
Ibaka suffered a calf injury in Game 6 of Oklahoma City's second-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers. Despite being ruled out of the conference finals because of the high risk of re-injury, Ibaka reportedly hopes he can soon return.
"... Serge Ibaka is defiant and determined for the world to witness his Willis Reed moment," Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports wrote on Monday. "Ibaka, so proud, so professional, is respectively raging against his injury diagnosis.
"Ibaka is back in Oklahoma City for Games 1 and 2 -- ruled out of the playoffs with a lower leg injury -- but his willingness to play with pain, his loyalty to the championship cause, has him thinking about starting some stationary shooting late this week, a league source told Yahoo Sports on Monday."
Thunder coach Scott Brooks, however, remained adamant Ibaka would not play against San Antonio.
"He's not coming through those doors," Brooks said Monday night, via Yahoo Sports. "... He's not coming back."
The absence of Ibaka, the league leader in blocked shots, was evident in Game 1's 122-105 blowout loss to San Antonio. Spurs forward Tim Duncan had his way with Oklahoma City en route to a 27-point game.
"We're a no-excuse team," Brooks said, via the Associated Press. "Serge is out. He's not coming back. We have to play better. We have to play better. If we expect to beat one of the best teams in basketball, and a very good offensive team, we have to play and we're not going to make an excuse."
Oklahoma City and San Antonio meet on Wednesday for Game 2.
