Tyronn Lue knew just which button to push with Ivica Zubac.
Play.
During a film session after the Minnesota Timberwolves treated four of Zubac’s five shots like a piñata, swatting them this way and that in the Clippers’ 119-122 victory on Feb. 10, the Clippers’ coach snuck in a clip of his own favorite dunk from when he was a star at Nebraska.
“We were watching film and uh, all of a sudden, this video – low-quality video – from someone dunking showed up,” the 7-foot Zubac said of Lue, whose playing height was listed as 6 feet. “It was Ty Lue playing his college game, and he was like, ‘That’s how you finish!’”
“I was just giving Zu a hard time,” Lue said. “I think he came from a game where he had like four shots blocks on that game, so I had a slide that said, ‘This is how you finish.’ And they didn’t know what to expect, with me dunking in college, so they all went crazy, talkin’ about … how fuzzy it was. It was just something fun for the team.”
And it got the big guy going.
Just ask poor Davis Bertans.
The Wizards’ 6-10 power forward was on the business end of a bloodthirsty Zubac slam Tuesday night, when the Clippers’ center skirted past Robin Lopez at the top of the key and punched the throttle, hellbent on hammering home two points. Bertans shifted over to try to impede Zubac’s path to the basket and wound up wincing as Zubac overpowered him at the rim.
Helluva finish, @ivicazubac. pic.twitter.com/dRKmKU8tb2
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) February 24, 2021
Zubac followed the facial by giving his coach an earful.
“He said, ‘Is that a good enough finish for you?’” Lue said, laughing, after their victory over Washington, to which Zubac contributed 12 points and 13 rebounds, his sixth double-double this season.
“He made me hear about it because I have been talking stuff to him about his finishing.”
Big Zu doing Big Zu things pregame here at Staples. (Yes, I enjoy the finale of @ivicazubac’s pregame warmups.) pic.twitter.com/Dof7oMKis9
— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) February 20, 2021
It seems Zubac – who concludes his pregame shooting routine with a high-energy series of slams that often evokes hooting and hollering from assistant coaches and personnel nearby – has responded to Lue’s prodding, and said he relishes the opportunity to give it back a bit to his coach.
“He’s been on me about finishing, being aggressive, dunking the ball every time I can,” Zubac said Tuesday about that night’s rim-reverberating score. “Every time I get a dunk over someone, next to someone, I come up to him and ask him if that was good enough? And I think it was pretty good tonight.”
Ivica Zubac #40 of the LA Clippers slam dunks over Davis Bertans #42 of the Washington Wizards in the fourth quarter of a NBA basketball game. @nba #nba @clippers #clippers @wizards #wizards #basketball @nikonusa #nikon #losangeles #california pic.twitter.com/bgNgtqy8jh
— Keith Birmingham (@photowkb) February 24, 2021
COLLEGE BUDDY BELIEVES
In the Clippers’ recent stretch of games, guard Luke Kennard has found himself on the outside of the rotation looking in. After missing a game with a sore knee and then lodging two consecutive DNPs, the former Duke start played 11 minutes Tuesday, when Lou Williams was unavailable, and went just 1 for 5 from the field.
But at Memphis Grizzlies shootaround Thursday, Kennard’s former Blue Devils teammate Grayson Allen suggested that Kennard’s diligently cultivated, sneaky-diverse skill set will help him find traction in L.A.
“Luke’s a worker, he works hard,” said Allen, who played two seasons with Kennard in Durham, North Carolina. “We bounced a bunch of stuff off each other when we were both at Duke, and I think we learned from each other’s game.
“And now that he’s in the league, he’s become a really good scorer and a really good off-ball, secondary play-maker. Some of the film that I’ve watched for the Clippers games and then just watching games in general throughout the year, he does a really good job of playing off the ball in catch-and-shoot and he’s got really good footwork when he gets into the paint … (and) he has really good footwork to be able to get to a fadeaway, he shoots floaters right- and left-handed, he’s got a lot of ball fakes, a lot of different moves in there that are really crafty and really good.
“That’s part of what makes his offensive game so good, is his skill other than being just a shooter – which a lot of people try to throw him into – but he’s got a really good game.”
2:30 mark thank me later @MirjamSwanson https://t.co/HHbcxPHwXJ
— K (@_kristinf_34) February 24, 2021
https://t.co/nzUO3lRBBh Breakaway dunk :12 in
— Kyle (@ClipsandVols) February 24, 2021
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