Serge Ibaka confirms he is out for remainder of Western Conference Finals

Serge Ibaka has a blog.

I leaned that today (via Rotoworld) and on his blog Wednesday he confirmed that he is out for the remainder of the Western Conference Finals against the Spurs. Here is what the Thunder big man wrote.

As you all know, I suffered an injury in the sixth game of the Conference Semifinals against the Los Angeles Clippers. This means I am not able to play in the Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs. It’s a difficult moment because this is the most important time of the year. All the work done during the summer and preparation during the season is focused on being ready and at your best when the Playoffs arrive, so it’s obviously disappointing not to be able to help my team on the court.

If that wasn’t clear enough, here is what Thunder coach Scott Brooks said at shootaround on Wednesday morning before Game 2, via Darnell Mayberry of the Oklahoman.

Scott Brooks on Ibaka: "He's not coming back. Nothing has changed. And it's no reason to keep bringing this up. He's not coming back."

— Darnell Mayberry (@DarnellMayberry) May 21, 2014

Ibaka injured his calf in the game against the Clippers, a strain serious enough it will take weeks to recover.

The Spurs 66 points in the paint and 25-of-29 shooting in the restricted area in Game 1 shows just how much Ibaka’s length and defensive presence is missed. He cleans up a lot of Thunder defensive mistakes and with him not there Brooks was scrambling trying to find lineups that worked, once that could both defend the Spurs and put points on the board.

If Brooks doesn’t find something that works before Game 2 this could be a shorter series than we all predicted.