Clippers center Ivica Zubac recorded his fourth 20-20 game of the season, including his second against the Spurs, as Los Angeles won its fifth in a row.
LOS ANGELES — For the Spurs, there have been times this season in which winning an NBA game has seemed as impossible as moving a mountain. Tuesday at the Intuit Dome , the task was even tougher than that.
In order to have any shot at victory, they had to try and move a 7-foot, 240-pound mountain of a human named Ivica Zubac. “He’s hard to move,” Spurs forward Keldon Johnson said. SPURS NATION: The best Spurs coverage in Alamo City, delivered to your inbox Credit this one to the Los Angeles Clippers’ immovable object. Zubac tortured the smaller Spurs on his way to 24 points and 20 rebounds as the Clippers punched out a 122-117 victory, their fifth in a row. Norman Powell led Los Angeles with 25 points and James Harden contributed 21, but it was the Clippers’ big Bosnian who made life most difficult for the Spurs. “He’s one of the most underrated players in the league by far,” Spurs acting coach Mitch Johnson said. Harrison Barnes threw in 24 points, including six 3-pointers, to pace the Spurs. Stephon Castle was the only other Spurs’ starter in double figures with 19. The loss was the third in a row for the Spurs, who continue their road trip Wednesday at Golden State. Here are three takeaways from Tuesday’s defeat, which dropped the Spurs’ record to 32-47: 1. It was an all-you-can-eat night for Zubac Zubac’s explosion should not have been surprising. He also posted a 20-20 game the last time he faced the Spurs, a 128-116 victory in San Antonio on Jan. 29. That was with the 7-foot-3 Victor Wembanyama in the lineup. With Wembanyama sidelined, the Spurs’ tallest starter was 6-foot-8 Bismack Biyombo. The Clippers began the game well aware of their size advantage, getting their first bucket of the game on a hook shot from Zubac over Biyombo. “He’s just really focused on making it difficult for teams in the paint,” Barnes said. Zubac has recorded four 20-20 outings this season. Half of them have come against the Spurs. Biyombo picked up his fourth foul with three minutes remaining in the second quarter and had to spend the rest of the night navigating foul trouble. That did not help the Spurs’ quest is keeping Zubac from dominating. Eight of his 20 rebounds Tuesday came on the offensive end. He was a huge reason for the Clippers’ 19-6 edge in second-chance points. “I thought Bismack did a good job fighting,” Johnson said. “I thought a couple of times he got maybe a funky angle or a 50-50 call that didn’t go his way. Zubac’s just a heck of a player.” 2. Things got away to start the third The Spurs stayed toe-to-toe with the Clippers for much of the first half and trailed 54-52 at intermission. The game turned in the first 3 ½ minutes of the third quarter, when the Spurs could not get out of their own way. Los Angeles opened the second half on an 18-2 run, fueled in part by the Spurs’ turnovers. They committed four of them during that game-altering stretch, including twice coming out of timeouts. “I’ll have to go back and look,” Johnson said. “I don’t know if we were careless or nonchalant, or it was just their pressure that led to that.” Johnson took his own share of the blame for the Spurs’ sluggish start to open the third. “There was one play out of a timeout, I drew something up and it was probably too cute,” Johnson said. “It was one of those times in the game you know they are going to get into your face, into your chest. It needed to be an A and B, north-south type of thing.” The Clippers scored the first 11 points of the second half. By the time the Spurs got back on the board, with a Barnes 3-pointer, they were behind by double-digits 65-55. Just like that, L.A. had the breathing room it needed. 3. Keldon Johnson out-Manus Manu Keldon Johnson led the Spurs’ second unit with 12 points on Tuesday. In doing so, he etched his name into the franchise record books. The 25-year-old guard has scored 935 points this season off the bench, the most for a reserve in club history. One would have thought that record belonged to Hall of Famer Manu Ginobili forever. Until Tuesday, it did. Ginobili scored 923 points off the bench in 2007-08, the season he won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award. “It’s something I didn’t know until a few days ago,” Keldon Johnson said. “To be in that conversation is surreal for me.” Until the middle of last season, Johnson had been a starter for the Spurs. In 2022-23, he lead the team in scoring at 22 points per game. Barring something unforeseen over the final three games of the campaign, this will mark the first time in Johnson’s six seasons that will not start a single game. Mitch Johnson gave Keldon Johnson kudos for making that adjustment. “To see his growth and development and see it rewarded like something this, it’s very cool,” Mitch Johnson said. “He’s continued to put the team first, in terms of what he prioritizes. He loves the Spurs.'
Manus Manu Keldon Johnson Zubac Zubac Mitch Johnson Bismack Biyombo Stephon Castle Bosnian Manu Ginobili Norman Powell James Harden The Spurs Harrison Barnes Victor Wembanyama Hall Of Famer Spurs Ivica Zubac Los Angeles Clippers Intuit Dome Alamo City Golden State Barnes Sixth Man Of The Year SPURS NATION
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