Clippers Notes: Garland, Kawhi, Jackson, Zubac

The Clippers won their third straight game on Wednesday in Inglewood, defeating another playoff hopeful in Toronto by 25 points, per Janis Carr of The Orange County Register. Los Angeles is currently three games behind Phoenix for the No. 7 seed in the West and a half-game ahead of Portland, which is No. 9.

Trade acquisition Darius Garland continued his strong recent play, putting up 24 points (on 9-of-15 shooting), six assists, four rebounds, one steal and one block in 30 minutes. The two-time All-Star point guard has been on fire since he made his Clippers debut on March 2, averaging 21.1 points, 6.8 assists, 2.5 rebounds and 1.1 steals on .506/.512/.826 shooting splits in 11 games (27.7 minutes per contest).

“You see that he’s enjoying the game and he’s just loving it,” Kawhi Leonard said. “I’ve played with guys like that before and like I said, he’s doing a great job, man. It’s when your hard work pays off, you make one of those shots or you’re just doing good, the excitement comes out of you. So yeah, I’m enjoying it and playing with him.”

Here’s more on the Clips:

• As Carr writes, Garland’s ability to stretch the floor with deep shooting range has created easier looks for his teammates, including Leonard, who finished with 27 points, six rebounds and two assists in 30 minutes. The 34-year-old forward has now scored 20-plus points in 49 straight games, which he attributes to his consistency. “It’s everything,” Leonard said. “That’s how you build championship habits. It’s just coming in every night, playing with the consistent mindset of being in attack mode and wanting to defend. And you want your team to play that way as well. So, I just build off of just trying to win really more than anything because the numbers will change.”
• Fifth-year center Isaiah Jackson was something of an afterthought in last month’s trade that sent Ivica Zubac to Indiana, and he was initially the Clippers’ third-string center. However, as Carr writes in another story, Jackson has been the team’s primary backup five since rookie Yanic Konan Niederhauser suffered a season-ending foot injury, and the former Kentucky big man has impressed head coach Tyronn Lue. “He’s been really good,” Lue said of Jackson. “I think rebounding the basketball, his ability to switch one through five on the floor has been really good for us. “(As well as) his ability to run the floor, his offensive rebounds, lob dunks, and being able to post smaller guys when they try to switch. He’s been able to post smaller guys they’ve been throwing at him, and he’s been able to take advantage around the rim.”
• In an interview with Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints, Zubac discussed his time with the Clippers, a tenure which covered parts of eight seasons. Zubac went through a gamut of emotions the week of the deadline — he became a father two days prior to being traded. “It was tough when (president of basketball operations) Lawrence Frank called me to let me know that it was happening and then just kind of being on the phone with people from the Pacers and going through all that,” Zubac said. “Then it hit me that the (Clippers) were going on a trip and it’d be good to go over there so I called Lawrence, he said that anytime I wanted to come by, I’m free to come by. So I went over there, caught a lot of people before they left for the trip and yeah we sat there for five, six hours, I don’t even know, but it just talked about memories and all the stuff that we did and what we went through and a lot of people cried. I cried. It was tough, man. It was tough. You always think it could happen — the trades and stuff — but you never really expect it, you don’t want it to happen. So once it happened, yeah, it was tough.” Injured star Tyrese Haliburton was among the Pacers pushing behind the scenes to acquire Zubac, league sources tell ClutchPoints.