Los Angeles Clippers center Ivica Zubac put on a historic performance to help the squad defeat the Indiana Pacers 114-100. Zubac scored 31 points, 29 rebounds, and three blocks; he is the third player in NBA history to make such a stat line. The last player to do it was Lakers great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on February 3, 1978.
“It’s crazy to be mentioned with [Abdul-Jabbar] and guys like that in the same sentence,” Zubac said. “It’s incredible.”
Zubac spearheaded the Clippers’ efforts in the first half, scoring 16 points, 15 rebounds and three blocks. He then realized he was on the verge of scoring 30 points and 30 rebounds.
“I just told myself I was gonna try to get every rebound possible,” Zubac said. “Just being aggressive on the offensive boards, I think that was a big part of the game.”
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Out of his 29 rebounds, 12 were offensive rebounds. The 12 Pacers players that competed in the contest accumulated only nine offensive rebounds.
“He did a great job with just really controlling the paint,” said Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue. “It’s good to see our team very happy for him, very supportive.”
Zubac always dreamed of scoring 20 points and 20 rebounds in a game and battled to get to 30 in both categories. In a span of two regulated minutes late in the fourth quarter, Zubac acquired his three last fouls and fouled out.
“I’m mad at myself because I wanted to get that 30 and 30 so bad and I just needed one rebound and it hurts,” Zubac said. “I’m definitely not as happy as I should be but I was just mad at myself for getting that foul.”
Zubac was one of the six Clippers players who scored in the double digits in the matchup. Guard Norman Powell came off the bench with 19 points and guard Terrance Mann scored 14 points. Forward Marcus Morris Sr. poured in 13 points while guard John Wall and center Moses Brown scored 10 points each.
Clippers manage to maintain a lead despite being ice cold from behind the arc. They shot at 45.1% (23-51) from the field and 12.5% (2-16) from downtown in the first half. The Clippers are up 59-57 against the Pacers
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Forwards Paul George and Kawhi Leonard and guard Luke Kennard remain out due to injury. Nine players competed for the Clippers on Sunday. Ball movement was another quality of the Clippers as every player scored an assist with Wall making eight.
“For the last 10-15 games, we’ve really been talking about moving the basketball, getting into the paint, making a play for your teammates and our guys are getting better,” Lue said. “Offensively, we just got to continue to make the right play and we’ve been doing that as of late.”
While the Clippers maintained control of the game, they struggled at the perimeter, going 6-32 from behind the arc. The Clippers led by as much as 20 points.
The game remained close until the third quarter when the Clippers went on a 10-2 run, giving them a 14-point advantage.
“Spacing was great tonight,” Lue said. “I thought we did a great job of pushing the pace, attacking early.”
The Clippers now head to a two-game road trip, their first stop is the Portland Trailblazers on November 29 at 7:00P.M.
