Zubac and Jokic battle for the ballAre the Clippers cursed?
The Los Angeles Clippers franchise has never played in a conference finals…ever. A few nights ago, Ivica Zubac and company were up 3-1 on the Denver Nuggets; knocking on the door of the Western Conference Finals. However, the Clips have unravelled in the 2nd half in back-to-back games to give Denver life as the two teams with play each other one last time this season in a ‘win or go home’ Game 7 from the Orlando bubble Tuesday night.
Zubac has been incredibly efficient in the Denver series. He’s the Clippers’ starting #5 and has gotten more time now later in the game than ever before. In the six games against Denver this series, Zubac is averaging 26 minutes, 7.5 points, 55% field goal %, and 8 rebounds. That’s pretty solid from a big guy who plays alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paula George. Most importantly, when Zubac is on the floor, the Clippers have been in the plus in five out of six games. (+18, -14, +10, +12, +5, +11)
He does his job and gives Nikola Jokic as much defensive trouble as he can. There’s no one on the Clippers that can stop Jokic otherwise, especially when he’s on fire from the perimeter.
The winner will face the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals next round. Will the Clippers finally make it to the final four?
Does anybody know if Zubac is related to Dale Dobach from Step Brothers movie Ivica Dobach.
Al Gore we are so lucky that idiot didn’t win. Bush jr baby Trudeau Hilary Clinton All these idiots clamoring for Michael Oboma too run some times I think we in the west aren’t ready for democracy and long for dynasties and monarchs how else do you explain that sorry lot.
Zubac is the only likable player on that team. Hopefully they trade him and he can develop elsewhere.
Kawhi looking a bit stupid now for leaving Toronto and pushing for that brutal Paul George trade.
PG13 always chokes in the playoffs (especially in elimination games) and they gave up a lot for him. They have nothing left to trade in order to get better (plus they have to re-sign a few free agents too).
I guess they’re going to just fire Doc Rivers and run it back again next year.
The clippers sucked eggs in game 7!! Call the paramedics! Biggest choke in weak franchise history! Complete EMBARRASSMENT!
Paul “no eggs” George was complete garbage, supposed to be an all star? What a joke!! Overpaid and worthless!!!!
Kawhi “goodbye” Leonard looked lost like he was just playing in a pick up game in a local gym during the off season wearing flip flops??? No intensity..No leadership..NO SACK!
“Needs A” Doc Rivers should pack his crapped in pants and undies and go coach in the D LEAGUE!! SERIOUS MISMANAGEMENT OF TALENT!! AAHH…What’s Up DOC????
Zubac barely played a minute in the second half when the clippers COMPLETELY dropped the ball..literally!!!
The CLIPPERS GOT CLIPPED !!
Well at least they lived up to their name..
LAKERS should win the championship this year!!
If they don’t… OUCH!!
@Misko
My post was knocking both Canada and the US for having a lot of corruption.
You missed the point.
Maminjo Stick to soccer analysis not politics.
You mention Trudeau being the son of a former PM as the only reason he’s running the country ,conveniently forgetting about the Bush’s father son corrupt duo.
I know an attorney from Miami who watched with her own eyes as they were setting up road blocks in Broward county to keep the black democratic voters from getting to the polls when gore was running against bush and It was running neck and neck.
Let’s not forget the Iraqi war and all those weapons of mass destruction the” merikans”Never found!!
They sure found their oil though.
^
What a shit team that is. Is your mum the manager?
Love how idiots get upset and say guys would never get chosen if a Yugoslavia existed today.
You’re drunk uncles would be proud of you.
Let me try – under the premise that everyone would be chosen fairly (already see some getting upset and missing the point),
the current Yugoslavia would be the best in Europe in many team sports.
Oblak – Savic, Milenkovic, Kolarov – Brozovic, Modric, Pjanic, Rakitic, – Perisic, Dzeko, Vlasic
Keep the country beautiful for the tourists while the Croats become gastarbeiters. Lol, that’s what a war was fought for, people died for this Croatia.
https://youtu.be/QnHJk28w864
Lol at Croatia.
Don’t listen to Maminjo, he’s so naive.
I’m not sure what the tax situation is in Croatia.
I think a lot of us diaspora Croats are bitter about not living there, and it’s just easier to just claim corruption as the reason why Croatia doesn’t have the jobs and money like we have on this side of the pond.
We have tons and tons of corruption over here. Look at the presidents of both the US and Canada, lol. Both are involved in all kinds of scandals. Trudeau is only the prime minister because he is the son of a previous Prime Minister, lol. How is that not a form of corruption? Imagine the crying and yelling over Croatia having the kid of a previous Prime Minister as its current president? Croatia had Kolinda, who is a heavily educated individual. Plenkovic is also very educated and experienced. Neither are corrupted, nor is a system that allowed them to get into power.
Fact is, Croatia is a small country with an economy that is not as dynamic as these Western ones, and they just got out of a brutal war which cost them billions (both in damage, and opportunity cost).
Also, just to note…
They don’t allow for the drilling for crude oil under the sea.
They don’t allow for giant golf courses and timeshares to be built anywhere (especially that one that Israeli tried to do above Dubrovnik).
They don’t deplete the resources in their country (ie. overfishing, pumping out spring water, etc), resulting in a mediocre primary sector (raw materials)
They don’t allow for employers to ship large amounts of labor from poorer countries in an attempt to avoid paying fair salaries
A lot of the slow and ‘backward’ mentality over there is the very reason why the country is as beautiful, clean and safe as it is.
It’s going to be an economy that is heavily dependent on the teritary (service) sector. It’s always going to be a slow economy if you want the maintain the beauty and quality of life over there.
Otherwise, it will be just like over here where it’s polluted, the food quality is poor, everybody popping pills to get by in life, and you can’t have your kids walk home at night.
@ BZ
I know.
That Jugo mentality is Soul stunting.
Need to make tax laws more business friendly.
Even non-profits get heavily taxed.
There is something in between Mamić and Jugo.
That is the Croatia I am interested in.
Till that happens, it will be my summer spot.
@Maminjo- Yes, good stuff
@Soul Champ- True. Problem is, not sure things are “healing” at all. Sucks, cause many talented people would go back in a heartbeat, if things were definitely on the right track.
Kingdom of Croatia includes all of “Bosnia.”
France is a colonial all star team.
Croatia just needs everyone who is actually Croatian to play for our teams.
Handanovic wins us World Cup.
Ibrahimović is Croatian.
Between the diaspora and areas that should rejoin Croatia, we would be elite in every sport.
We could solve this by having a legit HNS/HNL.
Even an Ilicic type would have been an added benefit.
You can keep all the pravoslavni.
We need Croatia to become an economic engine in the region and have more people add to that.
Live in Croatia and prosper.
That Jugo brainwashing is taking a long time to heal.
Anti business taxes grip the economy.
Talent exodus.
The reason we went far was because of the style we played, and the skill of the players.
We found the right formation, players and style that matched these players.
The moment you switch Ante Rebic with a pixie like Dusan Tadic, the pressing style completely breaks down.
Look at how Krama (despite being a more higher profile and prolific scorer) can’t seem to work as well as Petkovic in our system. Guys like Mitrovic and Dzeko would not do as well as Mandzo in the role he played for us.
Our team achieved what it did because Modric, Perisic, Rakitic and Mandzukic are all stars with a lot of international tournament experience.
The rest of our team are talented players who fit really well around them (Brozo with Modric & Raketa, Rebic with Mandzo & Perisic up top, etc).
We always seem to have that talent and depth across the board, going as far back as the 60s when we became the backbone of every Yugo football team.
Ahhh what could have been
Would have been a dream come true for all our Yugoslav friends out there and then had Yugoslavia collapsed Serbia would have claimed the World Cup and fifa would have awarded to them as a successor state
Oh that already happened in the 64 World Cup when juga finished fourth and all thanks to jerkovic winning the golden boot
A Yugo Team with oblak in net an engaged Zlatan who was committed and inspired and 9 Croats rounding out the rest of the field would be something… Crogo not Yugo.
There’s Croats out there who think like Ivica Osim that Juga would have won a World Cup by now if it stayed together
Now that is a clear impossibility as there would have selection headaches and as Maminjo indicated would have the selected Croats would have given it their all playing for a country that suppressed their heritage and nationality
I think not and then try to play with a Serb a Bosnian a Slovenian a Montenegrin and a Macedonian who were only selected because of their heritage and nationality
I think not because the Croatian player would know that playing with better fellow Croatia player would achieve better results anyway
Although a Yugoslavian team with ibrahimovic would achieved a round of 16 result though
The Y word is a huge NO NO. I’ve heard people talka ’bout a Yugo team, but that’s SHEER nonsense. You would never have the best players play due to political reasons as Maminjo says…
Besides it’s so ridiculous to even contemplate! Heck while we are at it, howa ’bout an Austrian-Hungarian team??
Or better yet a Roman Empire team, man this one would feature the likes of Ronaldo, Modric, Salah, Kane etc. I’m sure that team would kick a lotta barbarian arse.
The Y word is a big no no
I expect better behaviour from you Croat Canadian
Pull your head in
Guess I opened a can of worms saying the y word oops
Anonymous Wow thanks captain obvious! Yugoslavia doesn’t exist?! What would I do without your history lesson input? Maybe if you can articulate what I commented before I said “If we had a Yugoslavia team”. At least I have a username. I see creativity isn’t your forte with a name as “anonymous” lol
When you say “we” and “Yugoslavia” in the same sentence you’re a Yugo.
Zubac is young, but then Jokic is not that much older. Jokic is simply a phenomenal player and a joy to watch play. He is out shinning everyone else in the series. Zubac can only hope to develop into that sort of player and I hope the series motivates him. Zubac has played good defense. The Clippers run no plays for him and when he does get a chance he is tentative offensively and sometimes rushing. But dam, Jokic is good, has impressed me more than Doncic frankly.
I am no Yugo nostalgic, but I can appreciate a hypothetical question every now and then.
Could a Caucasian all star team beat a black team? I think it would be a great game.
Could a mixed race team beat an all black team, or an all caucasian team? Maybe
I can’t watch club team basketball anymore, just boring. But I’d tune in to watch that tournament. Not a racist thing, just from a interest point of view. NBA is lame.
Oops that was directed to Croat Canadian whatever his stupid name is
Sorry Mile
Mile
Yugoslavia does not exist anymore you fucking idiot
Piss off and listen to some lepa brena songs to reminisce
@Mile
Maybe. But it’s a moot point because politics will always be involved.
No way would Rebic ever gets his chance. Neither would Vlasic. There would always be this accusation or bias against the coach too (Dalic would probably feel obliged to throw in a random Macedonian or Slovenian to satisfy the masses, the exact same way he does with the Mile Skoric callup to satisfy the Osijek fans).
Actually, the Mile Skoric example is a good one. Everyone knows why he’s on the team, and it’s not his ability. It is to “unite” Croatia (which is something Dalic said he was trying to do). This is no different than the Yugos attempting to “unite” the federation by choosing players based on where they are from, and not what they can do.
The same thing happened to Boban in that ‘amazing’ Yugoslavia team that apparently could have done so much in the 1990 World Cup.
The team already had 11 Croats, and they couldn’t justify adding more. So, they decided to keep some old Bosniak corpses in the midfield (Susic and some other really old dude, well into their mid-to-late 30s) to satisfy the quota.
The reality is, that Yugo team should have had 20 Croats, but they figured they could get away without calling up a couple of the young ones or replace the less-impactful bench players to even it out by nationality lol.
Our France ’98 team was the team that should have been called up in 1990.
I agree with what your saying Maminjo. I’m just speculating and going by hypotheticals. I’m just saying the amount of talent that is in the balkans goes unnoticed. I’m just as happy as you are that were independent. It will be interesting to see if Serbia can beat Norway at Oslo and then beat Israel or Scotland in the next game.
Maminjo, that is spot on. I think sometimes what a Yugoslavia soccer or basketball team would be united. But then I snap out of it when I realize that the best Croatian players wouldn’t play because of politics. IF there were no politics involved AND we all got along AND the best players played, yeah sure “Yugoslavia” would be the best soccer and basketball team in Europe. But I much prefer how it is now obviously.
Nothing makes me laugh more when Yugonostalgics keep talking about how good our sports teams would be if Yugo still existed.
They were united for almost 50 years, and did nothing in sports. Croatia topped all of Yugo’s achievements within a few years (finishing third in football) then finishing second 20 years later.
Also, the gap in basketball has closed with other countries who used to be historically garbage (like Spain, Argentina, France, Canada, Germany) all becoming potential medalists moving forward. Croatia already got silver, so did Serbia, and so have (or will) all these other teams.
Plus, the problem with a multi-ethnic state is that there is too many politics and trying to satisfy all ethnic groups. Trying to pick a handful from each nation (instead of the best players), is what did us in for many tournaments. The same thing would continue to happen. No way we finish with silver in this past World Cup as a unified Yugo team.
If Dalic were coach (which, let’s face it, it would be a Serbian or hardcore Yugo dude instead, like Osim)… the coach would be pressured to include Milinkovic-Savic in the starting eleven instead of someone like Marcelo Brozovic. Mandzukic would probably hit the bench behind Dzeko and Mitrovic. Rebic would probably take a back seat to some crap winger like Ljajic, and Pjanic would probably replace Rakitic or something stupid. Good players, but ones that don’t fit together. But it satisfies the mosaic of cultures, lol. Good for a Round of 16 knockout.
But the good news is, you’d have documentaries about the ‘potential’ of this team lol. Like that dumb documentary called ‘The Last Yugoslavian team’ that celebrated a quarterfinal loss. Meanwhile, Croatia topped that achievement twice since then, lol.
Just think how good we would be if Yugoslavia was together in this era. In the olympics, we might’ve have had a chance against the states. Jokic, Doncic, Zubac, Nurkic, Bogdanović.
“That said, I hear Kramaric thinks Hoffenheim would not have won in regulation against this 4th tier team, even if Modric played.“
Lmfao.
“Good is the enemy of great!”
We need world class players all over the pitch.
Modrić has set the standard.
Dalic has to evolve as a manager.
He has had his odmor after 2018.
We are getting for 2021.
Step up in October or step off.
This is not some jugo job where you show up for Marenda.
We need to perform in October.
Zubac is progressing nicely.
Curious to how that will translate for HKS?
We finally have a player that can block shots and catch dunk in traffic. Plus he is playing in the business end of the playoffs.
Had some guy hit up my instagram, saying Kramaric scored 2 goals today and should start for the Croatian NT:
a) Those 2 goals were against a 4th tier team. Basically as good as my weekend Men’s league.
b) 1 goal was a PK, and like the truth always says, Me First always grabs the ball away from teammates. 😉
c) Hoffenheim fans freaking out that it took their team until the 111th minute to tie such a shitty team. Hoffenheim won in PKs after extra time.
Against a team like this the score should have been 6-0, not 2-2.
That said, I hear Kramaric thinks Hoffenheim would not have won in regulation against this 4th tier team, even if Modric played.
ZU could learn a few things from the joker …a nice mid range jumper would be a good start.
Go Ivica man mark that Jokic out of the game
You can do it