SAN FRANCISCO — Back in April, during the Clippers’ first-round series loss to the Golden State Warriors in the 2019 playoffs, Ivica Zubac couldn’t stay on the court.
He was too slow, too inexperienced and too timid. He would fumble the ball and miss gimmies. By Game 4, he was replaced in the starting lineup by JaMychal Green. By Game 5, he was out of the rotation entirely.
For Zubac — and the Clippers — Thursday night’s 141-122 win over the Warriors carried more weight than the average road victory. It was an exorcising of postseason demons and a shifting of the mantle of best in the West.
A lot has changed for these two franchises over the past six months — Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are now Clippers, Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala aren’t Warriors and Klay Thompson is likely out for the season — but perhaps nothing epitomized the current state of this matchup more than Zubac’s notable performance.
The…
