LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — Toronto Raptors forward Serge Ibaka suffered a sprained left ankle Monday night and is questionable for Game 6 of the team’s playoff series against the Boston Celtics on Wednesday.
Ibaka was wearing a walking boot on Tuesday.
The 30-year-old says how he’ll see how he feels on Wednesday before making a call on his status for the elimination game.
Ibaka suffered the injury after falling awkwardly while playing defence in the second half of Toronto’s 111-89 loss to the Celtics on Monday, giving Boston a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinal.
Ibaka is a key player off the bench for the defending NBA champions. He is averaging 15.1 points and 8.2 rebounds during the playoffs.
Against Boston, Ibaka has been one of the only Raptors to get significant playing time off the bench.
“I think we’ll certainly wait and see there,” Raptors coach Nick Nurse said. “But just like always, we go to the next guy. Don’t know who that is yet.
“We’ve obviously played Chris Boucher some in this series. Could be Rondae (Hollis-Jefferson), could be somebody else, but we’ll just wait and see on that. Same as always: If he’s there, we’ll play him. I think there’s a good chance of that. If he’s not, then we’ll move on to the next guy and see if we can get him ready to go.”