Two days after the big man had been reduced to a small role, Clippers center Ivica Zubac left his fingerprints all over another clutch finish in another comeback.
Standing his ground in the red-tinted paint of Houston's Toyota Center with 16 seconds to play as the last defender between Houston's Christian Wood and the basket, Zubac got his hand on Wood's dunk attempt, knocking it out of his two-handed grasp at the height of his leap.
Zubac was called for a foul, but the Clippers challenged. When the replay confirmed that Zubac's career-high sixth block had been clean, the Clippers dodged a letdown against a team with the Western Conference's worst record, their strong finish compensating for their lethargic start in a 99-98 victory.
Houston scored only 18 fourth-quarter points and between Robert Covington's disruptive hands and Zubac's rim protection, made only one of their eight shots inside the paint in the final quarter.
"He was dominant inside the paint," coach Tyronn Lue said.
The victory was the Clippers' third consecutive, their fifth in their last six games, and pushed them above .500 (32-31) for the first time since Jan. 1. They are now 14-8 in games within three points in the final minute, and no player was more clutch than Zubac.
Each win in their recent surge has relied on a new contributor, and it was the 7-footer's turn Sunday, two nights after his struggles to contain the Lakers' Dwight Howard, in particular, kept him on the bench for the final 18 minutes of a Clippers victory Friday.
Zubac scored 14 points and grabbed a season-high 15 rebounds to go with his career high in blocks and added three assists, including a deft pass to Amir Coffey, wide open in the left corner, for a three-pointer and a four-point Clippers lead with nine minutes to play as the Clippers continued their turnaround after trailing by 13 points in the first half. It was part of a 13-0 run to take the lead.
With 30 seconds to play and the Clippers clutching a two-point lead, Zubac sprinted out of the key to tap a loose ball headed out of bounds back to teammate Reggie Jackson. And when Jackson's poor pass on the ensuing possession was stolen by Jae'Sean Tate, it was Zubac who stood in front of Wood as he jumped off two feet for what would have been a game-tying dunk with 16 seconds to play and got his hand on the ball.
Lue challenged the foul on Zubac and won, giving the Clippers the ball back since Covington snagged the rejected shot. The Clippers split their two free throws, survived a missed three-pointer by Jalen Green that would have tied the score with four seconds to play, then pushed their lead to four points
"Zu was pretty adamant that he got a good, clean block," Lue said of his decision to challenge the foul call in the final minute.
Jackson scored a team-high 26 points to lead the Clippers.
Garrison Mathews scored 17 to lead Houston (15-45).
