Ivica Zubac kept rolling for Croatia on Saturday night, and the numbers told the story just fine. In a tight 101-99 win over the Netherlands, the big man put together another double-double, finishing with 24 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks.
It was the third time in four games this summer that Zubac has hit that double-double mark while playing for Croatia in the FIBA Basketball World Cup. He was nearly spotless from the floor, going 8-10 on his field-goal attempts, and he also punished the Netherlands at the line by knocking down 8-11 free throws.
What made the performance stand out wasn’t just the production, though. Zubac looked noticeably more agile in this one.
Earlier in the NBA season - when Zubac made his debut for the Pacers - he looked a little slow and did not have nearly enough lift when leaping for rebounds or contesting shots. Against the Netherlands, that wasn’t the version of him on display.
He had a few plays that jumped off the screen. Early in the game, he stayed with a dribble-handoff, kept the ball himself and then burst to the rim for a dunk over the help defender. Later, Croatia’s guards and wings repeatedly forced the defense to collapse on drives, which left Zubac free for easy finishes as his teammates found him with smart passes.
He also made the Netherlands pay when they fronted him in the post. After sealing his defender, one Croatian guard lofted a pass over the top, and Zubac caught it and slammed it down before the weak-side help could get there.
Another strong sequence came when he dribbled along the baseline and ended up underneath the basket. With smaller defenders around him, he waited for the right moment and then dropped in a flip shot once the angle opened up.
The defense was just as important. Zubac finished with two blocks, and both were more than simple stat-sheet stuffers.
On one play, he helped cut off a drive, stayed attached to his man and then exploded to reject the shot when the ball was kicked to his defender. On another, he handled a pick-and-roll sequence in drop coverage, absorbed contact from the rolling big and still got to the guard’s shot in time to swat it off the backboard.
His pick-and-roll defense figures to be a topic all season long, not because it’s a flaw, but because the way he’s used there is different from how Indiana likes to defend it.
For Croatia, though, the bottom line was simple: Zubac was huge in a game that stayed tight all the way through. The win pushed Croatia to 7-1 in Group K, and it’s hard to see them getting it done without their center playing at this level.
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