Ivica Zubac's historic night perfect capper on special season at Intuit Dome

The Clippers won to move to 48-32.

(Photo credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images)

INGLEWOOD, Calif. -- Tyronn Lue could hear the sold-out crowd inside Intuit Dome cheering for it, and even players on the bench insisted he do it.

Despite not wanting to mess with the potential for a negative outcome, Lue opted to reward LA Clippers center Ivica Zubac with one final play: a chance for the big man’s first-ever triple-double.

“Yeah, I usually don't like doing that; bad karma,” Lue said of the decision to leave Zubac in as he hunted one final assist. “But he had a chance earlier, I think, this year, I took him out. So, I was giving him one more play.”

That one play resulted in Zubac operating in a handoff with fellow Balkan brethren Bogdan Bogdanovic.

As Bogdanovic came off the screen, he rose and fired up a three-point attempt that spun through the air and ripped the net, giving Zubac the achievement he so desperately craved.

“I wanted it,” Zubac said of his first triple-double after the Clippers beat the Houston Rockets 134-117.

“Ty Lue wanted to sub me out, and everyone was like, ‘No, no, no.’ And then he asked me, I’m like, ‘I’ll stay.’ I wanted it,” Zubac continued. “I told Bogi, ‘I’ll get it to you, but you gotta shoot it no matter what.’ And he did it. Bogi is a big-time shot maker. I told him he’s never paying at dinner again. I’m glad he made that shot.”