Clippings: The Clippers benefited from excellent center play against the Warriors

In their recent era of contention, the Golden State Warriors have become known as the team that plays centers off the court. It’s a fate that befell the Clippers two postseasons ago, when Ivica Zubac couldn’t hang and the team had to start small with JaMychal Green at the 5.

This isn’t the same Warriors team, but it’s still a group that spaces the floor on offense and has the looming threat of Stephen Curry, who has become deadly increasingly further from the basket as the years have passed. The combination of those threats makes it hard for centers to navigate that space and remain effective.

But on Thursday, the Clippers had not just one, but two, centers who thrived against Golden State in the blowout win. Serge Ibaka’s stat line stood out, as he posted just his fifth double-double of the season with 16 points and a season-high 14 rebounds.

“He can play inside and out, I think that’s what’s very dynamic about him,” Reggie Jackson said about Ibaka. “We all know that he’s a rim protector, he does a great job defensively communicating for us. But on offense, he can stretch the floor, second-chance points, rebounding, has great touch inside the paint.... We were fortunate to get that type of game from him, we’re going to continue to try to ask him to bring that same effort and energy each and every night.”

Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images

Ibaka’s versatility as a center who can attack the basket and pop out to the perimeter, as well as defensively considering he played forward for the first part of his career, makes him an easier fit against the Warriors. Zubac’s success, on the other hand, was less likely. But he manned the paint on both ends, dunked on the Warriors twice, led the Clippers with six free-throw attempts, and had a great help block on Kent Bazemore early in the game.

The Clippers found ways for Zubac to be more effective defensively by going to a zone. That allowed him to stay closer to the basket rather than having to chase Golden State’s shooters on the perimeter.

“Last time we played, (Eric) Paschall had a pretty good game against Zu, it was a tough guard for Zu,” Ty Lue said postgame. “So we knew going into the game that, once Steph stepped off the floor, they brought Paschall in, we wanted to play a lot of zone and kind of keep Zu in the paint, let him protect, keep in the hole, and it was good for us tonight.”

The Clippers have gone to their small lineup frequently down the stretch, but there was no need to Thursday, not just because the centers played so well, but because their performance eliminated the need for crunch time altogether. As the season progresses, it will be interesting to see if Ibaka and Zubac force Lue to keep them on the court with their play despite the coach’s preference to go small.

More news for Friday:

• What have we learned about sports during the pandemic? Sports Illustrated dives in.
• How NBA players were personally affected by COVID-19.
• A year in, Adam Silver analyzes how the NBA responded to the coronavirus.
• In that vein, it’s fair to wonder about what Silver and the league have planned for this year’s playoffs.
• This is a really interesting progress report of sorts on the NBA’s expansion into India, and if/when an Indian player will finally make the league.
• Here is a lot of data and several charts that show Damian Lillard is the most clutch player in the league. Also included, which is perhaps more interesting for Clippers fans, is how the other stars in the league stack up to him.
• Katie Heindl looks into the proliferation of soft tissue injuries this season.
• The NBA finalized a rule change that will allow players on two-way contracts to be on the postseason roster. Big news for Amir Coffey.
• As for the other Clippers two-way player, here’s a picture of Jay Scrubb working out Thursday.