Laker fans have spent the better part of this season telling everybody how Ivica Zubac had regressed from a playable young big into an unplayable, yet still ambulant, pile of festering human trash. Up until this point, I had no reason to disbelieve them: Zubac is still young and developing, so it would make sense that he might be able to consistently play well despite the flashes of skill he displayed his rookie year.
Then I made this video. Now I will forever doubt the words that issue forth from the mouths of Laker fans, because Zubac certainly didn’t look like festering human trash in this game. He looked like Jusuf Nurkic 0.8 without the extra beefage. I can make this comparison with confidence because I have not had to personally witness the other games Zubac has played this year where he allegedly looked like booty.
McGee was out of this game because the asthma that he denies is a problem all of a sudden gained sentience and devoured his left lung, but it’s not a long-term injury, so Zubac’s minutes will probably reduced to their norm (that norm being “DNP”) unless Luke Walton makes a specific effort to get him more minutes. If he doesn’t want to get mobbed by angry Croats, that’s what he should do.