Why Warriors’ Ivica Zubac assignment is matchup to watch vs. Clippers – NBC Sports Bay Area & California

When the Warriors lost their home opener to the Los Angeles Clippers last month, they weren’t undone by 10-time All-Star James Harden or six-time All-Star Kawhi Leonard. They were beaten by someone who might never reach All-Star status.

Ivica Zubac, the biggest man on LA’s roster, owned the Warriors and they haven’t forgotten. He was pushed closer to the top of Golden State’s scouting report when the teams meet Monday night at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood.

The 7-foot, 240-pound center scored a team-high 23 points, tying Harden, and pulled down 18 rebounds. With Zubac scoring five of LA’s first seven points in the second quarter, Golden State never led again.

“Every time they needed a bucket,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the Oct. 27 game at Chase Center, “they seemed to get one from him.”

The Warriors would typically go after Zubac with their trio of big men: Trayce Jackson-Davis, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney. Looney was best in the previous game with 10 points and 11 rebounds in 20 minutes, but was ruled out Monday afternoon with an illness.

That leaves TJD, who struggled last time, and Green, who doesn’t like Zubac much but knows his game. The task is now more difficult as Zubac has become a force, ranking among the top five centers in scoring (15.9 ppg) and fifth among all players in rebounding (12.1 points per game).

Kerr will undoubtedly remind his team not to reach when defending Harden and to be wary of Norman Powell, a notorious streak shooter who has punished the Warriors in the past.

But Zubac, that night, was the mountain they could not climb. He played 37 minutes and was the key reason the Warriors were outscored 58-38 in the paint; this statistic is relevant because it is 10 more than LA’s average per game and 10 fewer than Golden State’s.

No less impressive is that Zubac managed such production after playing 39 minutes the previous night in high-altitude Denver.

“When we get him the ball in the paint, when we get to his sweet spot, he’s usually money,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said on Oct. 27. “I hate to see him play so many back-to-back minutes, but we needed every second of it.”

It didn’t help the Warriors last time, but this is another chance under similar conditions. After beating Utah on Sunday in LA, the Clippers are back on the second night of a back-to-back set.

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