Serge Ibaka, Toronto Raptors. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
Serge Ibaka and Jusuf Nurkic are mortal enemies inside of the NBA bubble.
Tensions rose between Serge Ibaka and Jusuf Nurkic inside of the bubble and it almost burst!
The NBA world now resides inside of the Orlando bubble. It’s like going on vacation except all you’re doing is hanging out by yourself and working. Of course, things tend to get weird for people in long periods of isolation. Naturally, physical players like Ibaka and Nurkic will take out their frustrations on the one place they feel most comfortable: On the NBA hardwood.
Ibaka’s Toronto Raptors were taking on Nurkic’s Portland Trail Blazers in an inter-squad scrimmage, ramping up into the final games of the elongated 2019-20 regular season. Nurkic got fed the rock in the paint and things got a little too handsy between he and Ibaka. They almost got into a bubble fight and would have been suspended and forced into isolation in their hotel rooms.
The world prepared for an NBA bubble, but did it for an NBA bubble fight?
What happens in the bubble, stays in the bubble. Well, unless we can see clips from inside of it on television, then we’ll see every almost fight imaginable because we love violence and we miss sports so much. If we get both simultaneously, we are being extremely entertained and are saving time. Who knew the members of the Raptors and the Trail Blazers hated each other so much?
The NBA may be a finesse league these days, but we all do crave some 1980s Detroit Bad Boy Pistons or some 1990s New York Knicks action after the whistle from time to time. If Jeff Van Gundy is grabbing a big dude’s leg and being carried around like a child who won’t let go, well, then that’s perfection. One day, we will be rewarded with a second helping of unintentional comedy.
While the Raptors want to defend their first NBA Championship in franchise history, it was the Blazers who went typical Portland on us and decided to vote against being included in the bubble. Well, they’re there now. They and the rest of us have to deal with them being there. Though it’s been great to see Nurkic playing some ball again, we just don’t want him getting five for fighting.
It’s always cool when an almost NBA bubble fight breaks out between two 7-footers in Orlando.