Zubac trusting process with limited minutes
Ivica Zubac’s frustration level increases with every minute not played. Every moment spent on the bench brings a renewed sense of aggravation.
Zubac’s annoyance isn’t directed at anyone, just the situation the Clippers center finds himself in. Zubac is on a minutes restriction after straining his right calf last month. It’s been a slow roll as he works himself back into shape.
Since coming back on Feb. 2 in a road win in Miami, Zubac has averaged 20.5 minutes over four games. His longest stint was 23 minutes in the Clippers’ deflating 121-100 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.
Yet, the 7-footer made the most of his time on the court, grabbing 11 rebounds and scoring six points with one blocked shot before foul trouble interfered.
“I wanted to play a little more, but I got to trust the process,” Zubac said. “I didn’t go to my limits, so the game was like that. I can’t complain. If I was not in foul trouble, if I was playing a little better, I would have been out there more.”
Before the injury, Zubac had appeared in all 38 games to start the season, averaging 12.4 points, 9.7 rebounds
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and 1.4 blocks in 27.1 minutes per game. He was the defensive anchor during a 23-7 stretch that propelled the Clippers to the upper reaches of the Western Conference standings.
But during warm-ups before the team’s Jan. 12 game at Minnesota, Zubac reportedly said that he felt a sharp twinge in his calf.
At the time, Zubac said he didn’t think the injury was anything major. An MRI revealed a more serious strain and was to be re-evaluated in mid-February, shortly before the AllStar break.
Zubac, though, returned to the lineup on Feb. 4 against the New Orleans Pelicans, 21 days after suffering the injury.
“I think my body heals well and, you know, we’re still trying to be careful with it,” he said. “But I’ve been working out very hard for the past two weeks. We stressed it through a bunch of different motions, a bunch of different stuff and it reacted very well so we thought it’s a good time to come back.”
A quicker comeback meant longer stretches on the bench for Zubac, limiting him to six minutes at a time and the Clippers from effectively defending at the rim. His absence was evident in the loss to Minnesota as the Timberwolves scored 64 points in the paint and repeatedly used their physicality to control the pace.
In the previous game against the Detroit Pistons, the Clippers failed to grab any offensive rebounds.
“Of course, you want to play more and especially in tight games when we’re trying to come back all game long,” Zubac said after the Clippers pulled out a close victory against the Pistons.
“It’s frustrating but you know you got to trust our medical staff. They want the best for us, and you know they’re trying to protect us and slowly get us back into it but it’s frustrating for sure.”
With Zubac on the restricted list, Lue has used smaller lineups. For one stretch in the third quarter on Monday, all three centers were on the bench, enabling the Timberwolves to easily drive the lane during a 27-8 run.
“I mean Zu is on a minutes restriction and then Mason (Plumlee) and DT (Daniel Theis) didn’t really get a fair chance,” Lue said. “So, not really a huge assessment for tonight, but I’m just trying to eat up those minutes with Zu being on a minutes restriction and just trying to find which big plays well, so they really didn’t get a fair chance today.”