Zubac answered the call again against the Mavericks
In awarding Ivica Zubac the distinction as the Clippers’ player of the game late in their bounce-back win Monday in Dallas, Brian Sieman applauded the big man for extending himself so effectively.
“How about 35, I’ll go ahead and say, flawless minutes?” the Fox Sports playby-play announcer raved on air.
Zubac did miss shot. And he did commit foul. But nobody’s perfect.
The 7-foot Croatian center — who turns 24 on Thursday — was trending that way, though, in another stellar effort against the Dallas Mavericks.
“There are some things Zubac did himself proud by hustling hard for a season-high 35 minutes.
“I’m definitely not used to playing that many minutes,” Zubac said, on a video conference, after the Clippers beat the Mavs 109-99, holding them to fewer than 100 points for just the sixth time this season.
“But, you know, I’m in good shape. Working hard every day, trying to stay consistent on off days. Get some work in every day. And I felt good out there.”
He was good, grabbing 11 rebounds, four of them on the offensive glass. He also scored 15 points, converting seven of his eight field-goal attempts and capitalizing on his extended floor time with both of the Clippers’ defense-distracting superstars, Kawhi Leonard and
Paul George.
Willie Cauley-Stein was responsible for Zubac’s only miss, swatting his shot away at the rim – a block that Zubac retrieved and put right back up.
Zubac also supplied some dynamic defense, including on Luka Doncic, the Mavericks’ All-Star point forward.
In the nearly two minutes that Zubac defended Doncic, the Slovenian star had just five points, plus three turnovers and no assists, according to the matchup data on NBA.com/stats.
“I mean, I remember what we did in the playoffs against them last year, so that kind of worked tonight, too,” said Zubac, recalling past runins with Doncic.
“He did a good job in the bubble so that is why I was comfortable doing it,” Clippers
coach Tyronn Lue said of Zubac. “We know they have great shooting around, so just (try) to make him play one-on-one. And Zu being a big body staying in front, and just trying to take that first initial bump because Luka is so strong and then stay down on the shot fakes – I thought Zu did a great job.”
Zubac was plenty motivated, aligned with his teammates who collectively still were steaming after getting blown out Sunday in New Orleans.
“We all know how what’s our situation, we all know we gotta do much better, that we can do so much better,” Zubac said. “That level of play is not acceptable. The way that we’ve been playing for the last 10 games.”
Leonard described being “very concerned” after Sunday’s setback, troubled mostly by his team’s inconsistency.
“When your star player, who brings it every night says that, you gotta start from yourself,” said Zubac, who was just 1 for 5 for three points with five rebounds in 13 minutes against the Pelicans.
“If your star player brings it every night, then you can’t be the one who is not bringing it. So, we all gotta be better, we all know that. And we just gotta keep building on the work we did tonight.”
The challenge, as Leonard presented it Monday, is for Zubac and all of the Clippers collectively to compete with similar flourish again against Dallas tonight, in the second game of their mini-series in Texas.