With Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac out, the Clippers can’t keep up with the Bulls

The Cutting machines are in the midst of the most arduous stretch of their season, playing six games in nine days – a stretch that threatens to push them to their limits.

To make matters worse, it is difficult to avoid injuries.

With Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac out, the Clippers saw their four-game winning streak end at one 112-99 loss to the Chicago Bulls at the Intuit Dome on Monday night.

The Clippers missed Leonard (dealing with a right knee injury) and Zubac (abrasion of the cornea in his left eye) to the extent that 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 being 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 they add plays one night and just switch the whole schedule around, which I don’t think has ever happened to me,” said James Harden, who had 17 points and 10 assists. “But this is already our third (game) in four (nights). Then we got an off day and we got another back-to-back one day from here.

“It’s frustrating. But for us, no complaints. It is what it is. But tonight we just didn’t have the right bounce, the bounce we needed to have, and it showed.”

Chicago (19-25) opened an 18-point lead in the third quarter before the Clippers clawed back to within nine points in the fourth. Zach LaVine eventually put the game away when he hit back-to-back three-pointers to give Chicago a 15-point lead with 1:24 left.

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, they attacked us. I thought defensively they did a good job of mixing up zone and man to keep us off balance. Offensively we just played way too slow .”

Norman Powell led the Clippers with 27 points and Terrance 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 on back-to-back nights after that defeated the Lakers on Sunday. They will play another back-to-back set on Wednesday and Thursday against Boston and Washington, respectively.

“They had a back-to-back and traveled,” Powell said of the Bulls, who played Sunday in Portland. “I mean, we really have no excuse. And the games we’re talking about haven’t even come up 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 drove in the second quarter. We tried to make a run to start the fourth, but Zach managed some tough shots.”

Read more: The Clippers show the Lakers all the things they are not in the first Intuit Dome rivalry game

Zubac, who played in the Clippers’ first 41 games, will undergo further tests on his eye, Lue said.

“…It swelled up on him last night and it was a tough blow,” Lue said. “Hopefully we can get him back sooner rather than later.”

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.