Serge Ibaka’s Slump Is Sinking the Oklahoma City Thunder

Serge Ibaka has been absolutely abysmal in the second-round matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies. His excellent shooting stroke, which helped him become one of the most feared mid-range jump shooters in the NBA, has evaporated into thin air. What is even worse is that it has taken all of his confidence with it.

Russell Westbrook is done for the playoffs, which has hurt the Oklahoma City Thunder tremendously. Even so, Ibaka is somehow hurting the Thunder more than the absence of his injured teammate. His mid-range jumper has actually been off ever since the beginning of the playoffs, but his struggles reached a whole new level in game 3.

In game 3, Serge not only continued his painful slump from mid-range, but also blew two wide-open dunks. To put things into perspective, take a look at Ibaka’s shot charts from the regular season and the second-round of the playoffs.

After shooting over 50% from mid-range in the regular season — which, by the way, is a seldom accomplishment — Ibaka has shot 14.3% in the first three games against Memphis. How can such a consistent shooter have lost all of his shooting ability just like that?

Every shooter finds himself in a slump every now and again. The common tip is to continue shooting — eventually the ball will start finding its way into the basket. That’s exactly what Serge has been doing, but if you inspect his demeanor on the court, you can see that it has become a psychological problem.

Ibaka seems so determined to get out of the slump that he has started forcing bad shots. Instead of letting the offense come to him and taking the right shots, he has started putting up out-of-rhythm heaves with a hand in his face. Usually, when Ibaka gets the ball and is relatively open, he has never hesitated to put up the shot. However, when he does find an opening in the Grizzlies’ defense, he hesitates. Just before he launches the shot, you can see that glimmer of doubt in his jump and follow through.

That is the problem. Serge knows that he needs to get out of this slump, and he usually pre-determines whether he will take a shot before he even receives the ball. When he does get a good shot opportunity, the dreadful ramifications of missing is the only active thought in his head.

Needless to say, Ibaka needs to solve this problem sooner rather than later. Without his offense, the Thunder are doomed and are practically in a must-win situation Monday evening against the Grizzlies.

Vytis covers the NBA for FanSided. You can follow him on Twitter: @VytisLasaitis