With Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac out, Clippers can’t keep pace with Bulls
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The Clippers are in the middle of the most arduous part of their season, playing six games in nine days — a stretch that threatens to push them to their limits.
Making matters worse, injuries are proving difficult to avoid.
With Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac out, the Clippers’ four-game winning streak ended in a 112-99 loss to the Chicago Bulls at the Intuit Dome on Monday night.
The Clippers sorely missed Leonard, who was managing the load on his right knee, and Zubac, who had a corneal abrasion of his left eye. They shot just 39.4% from the field (37 for 94) and 21.4% from three-point range (nine for 42) in a game that was moved up two days because of rescheduling following a week of wildfires.
Kawhi Leonard had one of his best games since returning from a knee injury, scoring 19 points in limited minutes during the Clippers’ win over the Lakers.
“It’s frustrating when you’re playing and you’re trying to get a rhythm and they add games one night and just switch the whole schedule around, which I don’t think has ever happened to me,” said James Harden, who had 17 points and 10 assists. “But this is our third [game] in four [nights] already. Then, we got a day off and we got another back-to-back a day from here.
“It’s frustrating. But for us, there’s no complaining. It is what it is. But tonight we just didn’t have the right bounce, the bounce that we needed to have and it showed.”
Chicago (19-25) opened an 18-point lead in the third quarter before the Clippers clawed back to within nine points in the fourth. Zach LaVine eventually put the game away when he hit back-to-back three-pointers for a 15-point lead with 1:24 left.
LaVine scored 11 of his game-high 35 points in the fourth quarter as the Bulls ended a five-game losing streak.
“I knew coming into the game that they were going to play hard,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “They were thirsty for a win. So, they came in, they attacked us. I thought defensively they did a good job by mixing the zone and man up to keep us off balance. Offensively, we just played way too slow.”
Norman Powell led the Clippers with 27 points and Terance Mann had 12 off the bench. Mo Bamba started at center in place of Zubac, finishing with 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Clippers (24-18) were playing after defeating the Lakers on Sunday. They will play another back-to-back set Wednesday and Thursday against Boston and Washington, respectively.
“They had a back-to-back and traveled,” Powell said about the Bulls, who played Sunday at Portland. “I mean, we really don’t have an excuse. And the games we’re talking about haven’t even come up yet. So, I don’t think we have an excuse.
“I think they came out with a lot of energy. They were flying around and we came out flat. We had our moments where we made our run in the second quarter. We tried to make a run to start the fourth, but Zach made some tough shots.”
Norman Powell, James Harden and Ivica Zubac each score more than 20 points to lift the Clippers to a 116-102 victory over the Lakers at Intuit Dome.
Zubac, who played in the Clippers’ first 41 games, will undergo additional exams on his eye, Lue said.
“It did swell up on him last night and it was a tough blow,” Lue said. “Hopefully we can get him back sooner than later.”
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