The Clippers are in the middle of the toughest part of their season, playing six games in nine days – a period that threatens to push them to the limit.
What makes matters worse is that injuries are difficult to avoid.
With Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac out, the Clippers saw their four-game winning streak end Monday night in a 112-99 loss to the Chicago Bulls at the Intuit Dome.
The Clippers desperately missed Leonard (right knee injury treatment) and Zubac (left eye corneal abrasion); they shot just 39.4% from the field (37 for 94) and 21.4% from three-point range (9 for 42).
Read more: Kawhi Leonard is closer to the game changer he once was for the Clippers
“It’s frustrating when you’re playing and you’re trying to get into a rhythm and one night they add games and just flip the whole schedule around, which I don’t think has ever happened to me,” said James Harden, who scored 17 points and 10 assists. “But this is already our third (match) in four (evenings). Then we got a day off and a day later we got another back-to-back day.
“It’s frustrating. But for us there’s no reason to complain. It is what it is. But tonight we just didn’t have the right resilience, the resilience we needed and it showed.”
Chicago (19-25) opened an 18-point lead in the third quarter before the Clippers came back to within nine points in the fourth. Zach LaVine finally put the game away when he hit back-to-back three-pointers, giving Chicago a 15-point lead with 1:24 to go.
LaVine scored 11 of his game-high 35 points in the fourth quarter as the Bulls ended their five-game losing streak.
“I knew coming into the game that they were going to play hard,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “They were thirsty for a win. So they came in and attacked us. I thought they did a good job defensively, mixing and manning the zone to keep us off balance. Offensively, we just played way too slow.”
Norman Powell led the Clippers with 27 points and Terance Mann had 12 points off the bench. Mo Bamba started at center in place of Zubac and finished with 10 points and seven rebounds.
The Clippers (24-18) played back-to-back nights after beating the Lakers on Sunday. They will play back-to-back sets against Boston and Washington, respectively, on Wednesday and Thursday.
“They had a back-to-back and traveled,” Powell said of the Bulls, who played in Portland on Sunday. “I mean, we really have no excuse. And the games we’re talking about haven’t even been released yet. So I don’t think we have an excuse.
“I think they came out with a lot of energy. They were flying around and we came out flat. We had our moments where we made a run in the second quarter. We tried to make a run to start the fourth, but Zach made some tough shots.”
Read more: Clippers show Lakers everything they are not in first Intuit Dome rivalry game
Zubac, who played in the Clippers’ first 41 games, will undergo additional eye exams, Lue said.
“…It swelled up on him last night and it was a big blow,” Lue said. “Hopefully we can get him back as soon as possible.”
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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.