Serge Ibaka made his debut with the Los Angeles Clippers with a loss (81-87) on the first day of the NBA preseason against the Los Angeles Lakers of a Marc Gasol who did not play.
Ibaka added 6 points (2 of 3 in triples), 2 rebounds and a block, in the eight minutes he was on the court, all of them in the first quarter.
The Hispanic-Congolese was part of the starting quintet of some Clippers who came out with all their weapons from the beginning: Patrick Beverley, Kawhi Leonard, Nicolas Batum, Paul George and Ibaka himself.
Ty Lue, who has taken over from Doc Rivers on the Clippers bench, he highlighted in the post-game press conference that they want to test Ibaka as the starting center for the Los Angeles team.
The Lakers, who won their seventeenth NBA title in the “bubble” of Orlando (USA), faced this game in a radically opposite way against their neighbors and rivals, since Marc Gasol, LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Markieff Morris, all called to be important in this season of the purple and gold, did not play a single minute.
During the warm-up, Ibaka and Gasol were seen chatting in a friendly conversation in a Staples Center in Los Angeles (USA) completely empty due to the pandemic.
In addition to being teammates in the Spanish team, Gasol and Ibaka they shared a dressing room in the Toronto Raptors that in 2019 took the NBA ring.
Talen Horton-Tucker (19 points), by the Lakers, and Paul George (10 points) on the Clippers were the top scorers in a typical preseason game (the two teams had 42 losses).
The Clippers and Lakers will meet again on Sunday in Los Angeles in a new NBA preparation date, whose 2020-2021 season will officially begin on December 22.
