LOS ANGELES — Fresh off their first victory of the season, Paul George and the Los Angeles Clippers wrapped up their three-game home stand on Wednesday night with a matchup against the visiting Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs, winners of two in a row against the Atlanta Hawks and Denver Nuggets, marched into Staples Center with their 7-footers and earned their third consecutive victory with a 92-79 win over the Clippers.

Cleveland starts a unique starting lineup featuring three 7-footers with Lauri Markkanen at the 3, Evan Mobley at the 4, and Jarrett Allen at the 5. In what should've been a game where they played inside-out, the Clippers struggled mightily, scoring just 79 points, shooting 35.6 percent from the field, and knocking down just 22 percent of their 3-pointers. After a season-high 37 assists against the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday night, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue believes his team didn't trust the pass and didn't have enough energy on Wednesday.

“I thought the flow was nasty for us offensively,” Lue said of his team's 19 assists. “I thought we did a lot of over dribbling. They did switch a lot, but having three bigs on the court, we just talked about how we wanted to attack it. We missed some shots. I thought we were just flat from the start. We just didn’t have a lot of energy, and that’s one of those games where we didn’t do a good job of sharing the basketball and making the right play. I thought we didn’t look good.”

Paul George struggled for the second game in a row, finishing with just 12 points on 6-of-20 shooting from the field and 0-of-8 from 3. It was another game without a free-throw attempt for George, who has six total attempts on the season through four games, despite having 42 drives to the basket.

The Cavs' starting big-man trio made life tough for the Clippers, as each big was able to switch, with their length often making shot creation problematic.

“It was different,” Paul George admitted. “This was different, a different game. A different game to be a part of, for sure, with their 3-man and their 5-man switching and not giving up much in the interior. This is a different game.

“Just the length. I mean, this is a lengthy team. And so, regardless if we got stops, they were rebounding. You know, they were crashing the glass, they were getting extra possessions. That’s really what’s the difference. And again, I still thought we got some good shots, we got some good looks, but I mean, only difference, they had the size and it kept possessions alive because there were three 7-footers on the floor. That plays a big factor.”

A few minutes into his postgame press conference, Paul George was essentially staring at the box score.

“You're staring intently at the score sheet, what jumps out at you most,” he was asked.

“Man, lot of things,” George responded. “Rebounds, free-throw attempts, fouls, um, I mean, them only making three 3s, shooting 20. It's a lot of stuff, it really is — 20 turnovers. We didn't really capitalize too much, but I mean, it's a lot. The stat sheet — you see what kind of game — if you didn't watch it — you'd see what kind of game this was tonight. So, it's a lot of stuff that's glaring.”

Through four games, the Clippers lost two games by a combined eight points, blew out the Blazers by 30, and lost to the Cavs by 13.

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In a game, Tyronn Lue has a number of things he's looking for when judging his team's performance.

“Really, if we’re creating open shots for one another,” Lue said. “I think you would say assists, but we still haven’t shot the ball like we’re capable of doing. We make the right plays, we make the right pass, but we’re not shooting the ball particularly well, so mostly assists.”

The Clippers are currently sixth in the league in 3-point attempts, but are middle of the pack in three-point percentage at 33.6 percent. Last season, LA shot 41.3 percent from three, among the top five percentages in NBA history. They're also currently fifth in assists, fifth in potential assists, and second in assisted points created.

“Defensively, I think moreso deflections, I think being aggressive, having activity with high hands and getting deflections is what you’re looking for on the defensive end.”

Through four games, the Clippers rank 10th in the league in deflections, a good sign of what Lue is looking for. Unfortunately, LA also ranks dead-last in opponent rebounding at 51.3 per game while grabbing an average of 40.5 rebounds.

“After a night like this, only way is to get better,” Paul George explained. “Again, I think it's more so us moving our bodies, I thought that was really the key. We didn't make them work very much on the other end, that's when we're at our best, when guys are moving.”

Up next for the Clippers is a trip to Portland to take on the Trail Blazers in their home. LA just defeated Portland on Monday night, 116-86.