Ivica Zubac leads surging Clippers past Spurs 122-117 and into fourth place in the crowded West

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Ivica Zubac had 24 points and 20 rebounds, Norman Powell scored 25 points and the Los Angeles Clippers surged into fourth place in the Western Conference with a 122-117 victory over the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday night.

James Harden had 21 points, 12 assists and nine rebounds for the Clippers, who have won five straight.

Los Angeles, at 47-32, also currently holds the tiebreaker over Denver, Memphis and Golden State, who all have the same record with three games left in the regular season. All four are right behind the third-place Lakers, who are 48-31.

Kawhi Leonard sat out to rest his perpetually balky right knee, but he’s likely to return for the Clippers’ visit from second-place Houston on Wednesday. Leonard, named the Western Conference player of the week Monday, played in back-to-back games last weekend for the first time in his 13th NBA season, which only began in January due to knee discomfort.

Harrison Barnes scored 24 points and Stephon Castle had 19 for the Spurs, who have lost eight of nine.

Bogdan Bogdanovic scored 19 points in his 500th career game.

Takeaways

Spurs: Victor Wembanyama’s absence was obvious in Zubac’s dominance and the Clips’ 50-34 rebounding advantage.

Clippers: They’ve won 15 of their last 18 to streak into contention for homecourt advantage in the first round. That could be big, since they’ve won 12 of 13 and 28 of 35 at Intuit Dome.

Key moment

Los Angeles made an 18-3 run in the first four minutes after halftime to create some space. The Spurs rallied, but never quite caught up.

Key stat

Zubac has 12 straight double-doubles in the Clippers’ longest streak since Paul had 14 straight in 2013. He’s the first Clippers player with at least 20 points, 20 rebounds and five assists in a game since Elton Brand in 2005.

Up next

While the Clippers host the Rockets, the Spurs visit the Warriors.

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