Ivica Zubac became something of a fan Sunday, taking a backseat and enjoying the performance of his future Hall of Fame teammates.
“It was incredible, man,” Zubac told reporters in Dallas after Paul George and James Harden helped the Clippers tie the first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks, 2-2, with a116-111 victory.
“When PG shot that corner three … that shot, it just dropped in. That’s what PG does, always making big shots for us. James, too. Getting into the paint, blowing by his defenders, getting into those floaters, it was incredible.
“That’s what we expect them to do. We expect them to finish the games. We expect them to make the right plays at the end of the game and that’s why they’re who they are and that’s why they get paid the big money. So, they took us home.”
George and Harden finished the game each with 33 points. George scored the bulk of his points on seven 3-pointers and eight assists. Harden, who was 12 of 17 from the field, scoring 15 of his points in the final quarter, made all five of his foul shots and had seven assists to quiet a raucous American Airlines Arena crowd.
The best-of-seven series returns to Crypto.com Arena on Wednesday for Game 5.
“James has been one of the best players in the league in the last 10 years and that’s what he does. He had a lot of big games in his career. He’s scored a lot of points in his career, and we know he can do it,” Zubac said. “And when it’s that time, we trust him, and we wouldn’t want anyone else. We know he can do it and we trust him.”
Some of the enchantment was missing, though, as the Clippers’ other future Hall of Famer, Kawhi Leonard, was ruled out indefinitely before the game because of swelling in his right knee. According to Lawrence Frank, president of basketball operations, his return is uncertain.
The Clippers responded to the pregame news with a strong first half, building a 31-point lead before needing the play of George and Harden down the stretch to hold off the Mavericks.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve got to say it — regardless of who’s playing and who is not playing — I’ve got to be aggressive. We feel good with where we’re at, with who we have,” George said.
Harden echoed George, saying that the team needed to be more aggressive in Leonard’s absence. “It’s pretty simple for me.”
Yet even Harden enjoyed watching the game’s stars down the stretch. The Mavericks’ duo of Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving matched the Clippers’ effort to climb back from the deficit and briefly take the lead.
“It was a show. It‘s like this is a show, like elite, skilled, Hall of Fame basketball players going at it,” Harden said.
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While seeing the teams battle in Game 4 was fun for Zubac, watching the Mavericks comeback was hard to watch.
“The first half was pretty fun, then that quarter and a half was not really fun. But the environment was great,” Zubac said. “They got a great crowd. It got super loud and you couldn’t hear nothing. You were screaming out coverages and guys don’t even hear it.
“Players love that stuff. And playing at arenas like this in front of good fans, even though they’re all against you, it’s always fun. So, props to their fans, they did a great job and that’s what we need from our fans for the next game.”