Facing the Celtics who are struggling inside, is the condition of the Clippers inside pillars really unsatisfactory?

In the previous NBA regular season, the Boston Celtics, playing at home, narrowly defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 121-118. After this game, the Celtics, who had won two consecutive victories, improved their record to 7 wins and 7 losses, and their ranking was promoted to 11th in the Eastern Conference; while the Clippers, who had lost 7 of the last 8 games, had a record of 4 wins and 9 losses, continuing to rank 11th in the Western Conference.

In this game, the performance of the Clippers' starting center Ivica Zubac was obviously not ideal and did not play the role it should have. Zubac played 33 minutes and 37 seconds, making 6 of 10 shots and 4 of 4 free throws. He scored 16 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block. He also had 1 turnover and 4 fouls, with a plus-minus of -15. Zubac scored a certain amount of points on the offensive end, but he didn't make much contribution. In addition, his performance in interior defense is also very unsatisfactory. The most important thing is that Zubac faced the mediocre Celtics inside, and he should have performed at a dominant level. As a result, in this game, he looked very weak and failed to display his own characteristics on the defensive end, which was very disappointing. With Zubac's ability, he should definitely perform at a higher level in such a game.

In the NBA regular season last season, Zubac played a total of 80 times in 82 games, averaging 32.8 minutes per game. He averaged 16.8 points, 12.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.7 steals, 1.1 blocks, 1.6 turnovers and 2.1 fouls. He shot 62.8% from the field and 68.1% from the free throw line. In the playoffs, Zubac played a total of 7 times, averaging 36.6 minutes per game. He averaged 17.4 points, 10.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.7 steals and 1 block per game. He also had 1.6 turnovers and 2.7 fouls. He shot 65.9% from the field and 53.8% from the free throw line. Since the start of this season, Zubac has averaged 31.3 minutes per game in the first 13 games, averaging 16.2 points, 10.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 0.5 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game. He also has 2.2 turnovers and 2.7 fouls. His field goal percentage is 62.9% and his free throw percentage is 75%.

Judging from the data alone, Zubac's performance cannot be considered particularly bad, but from the actual situation, Zubac's performance in many games is very unsatisfactory. Especially on the defensive end, he cannot maintain a stable level and is often beaten by his opponents in various ways. His intimidating power inside last season has disappeared this season, which has largely contributed to the team's decline in overall competitiveness. The importance of Zubac to the Clippers is obvious to all. As the team's most stable player last season, if he cannot perform at a higher level, it will be unrealistic for the Clippers to rebound in record.