The golden opportunities for Tyronn Lue and the LA Clippers to make up ground in the standings while building a rhythm have come and gone. Instead, there have been at least five occasions in the last month where keen observers have easily said, “That might be the worst loss of the season.”
The Clippers are still the fourth seed in the Western Conference, hanging on by just a half-game entering Monday night's game against the Indiana Pacers. With just 12 games remaining in the regular season, there are some extremely concerning signs for this veteran-laden team.
“It's very frustrating,” head coach Tyronn Lue said after Sunday's 121-107 loss at home. “I'm huge on execution on both sides of the basketball and we talk about it every day just not taking shortcuts and doing it the right way. I think they're frustrated as well.”
The Clippers are in a slump
Over the last few weeks, Lue has become increasingly critical of his team's play. It's unusual to see the guy who usually struts around even-keeled have to call his experienced team out repeatedly for not paying attention to the game plan, not being mentally tough enough, or simply for looking fatigued.
Since the All-Star break, the Clippers blew a 21-point fourth-quarter lead against the Lakers, blew a 15-point lead against the Milwaukee Bucks without Giannis Antetokounmpo, and blew a 22-point lead against the Minnesota Timberwolves at home without Karl-Anthony Towns.
The Clippers also suffered a home loss against the Atlanta Hawks without Trae Young — where they railed by as many as 29 points — as well as a home loss against the Philadelphia 76ers without Joel Embiid — where they trailed by as many as 21 points as Philly led wire-to-wire.
“I mean, it is embarrassing when you lose to teams like this,” Tyronn Lue added. “I'm not saying they don't have great players over there and Nick Nurse is a great coach, but when you come in minus Joel Embiid, then Nico [Batum] sits out tonight, [Robert Covington] is out, Kyle Lowry sits out, and you're playing at home. You have to take advantage of those type of things and type of games. And so it is frustrating showing the same thing over and over and not getting the results you want consistently. I would say that consistently not getting the results to every single game and so you keep talking about it but at some point you got to do it.”
At this point, it's seemingly on the players to get their act together, starting with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George.
“It's hard to judge where we need to be, but I know we need to just keep getting better and we will,” Kawhi Leonard said after the loss. “We're not playing our best basketball right now, but I think we are confident in it. We just got to stay at it and just take it one game at a time.”
With just 12 games remaining in the regular season, time is running out to lock back in. The Clippers still have one of the tougher schedule's remaining in the NBA, including a game against the Denver Nuggets and Cleveland Cavaliers, and two against the Phoenix Suns. The Pelicans, who are a half-game back of the fourth seed, still have games against the Boston Celtics, Oklahoma City Thunder, Milwaukee Bucks, and Phoenix Suns twice as well.
In addition to all that, New Orleans won the season series 3-1, giving them the edge if the two teams finish with the same record.
“We have veteran group, a veteran group of guys, so we will get there,” Paul George added. “But we just got to lock in and focus. I don't think our focus has been where it needs to be on certain occasions, so we just got to lock in as a group.
“Our focus will be there. I don't know the answer to [why it hasn't]. Obviously, our focus would be there if we could pinpoint that and address it right at the thing. But it just comes down to everybody just being dialed in, whatever's the game plan, stick to it and follow through with that plan.”
The Clippers had an incredible stretch where all things were clicking, going 26-5 from December 1st to February 5th. Outside of that magnificent 31-game stretch, the team has a record of 18-21. Not great.
“They're grown men and they understand we're a veteran team. It's not like we're playing with second and third-year players. I'm never the type of guy that wants to show a player up or showing up they’re making a mistake. I'd rather not do that because now it's a story for you guys. But I mean they understand what the fuck — they understand what they're supposed to be doing.
“We just got to do better all around the board. But we understand if they come up here in the next two, three guys you interview, they're going to say the same thing. And so I don't know what to tell you, but like I said, I feel good about this team. I feel confident and just got to wake the hell up and be ready to go do stuff hard. We've been practicing every day, shoot arounds every day so they understand. So it's time to start getting the ball rolling and yeah, that's all I got.
The Clippers will take on the Indiana Pacers on the back end of a back-to-back set on Monday night before embarking on a four-game road trip out East.
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