LOS ANGELES – Most of the Los Angeles Clippers' locker room had cleared out by the time media was allowed in postgame. Players were understandably down. It wasn't just that Sunday's 112-91 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans marked the Clippers' fourth in a row, but it was the way in which it happened: without effort and without focus for a full 48 minutes.
For days, the Clippers echoed the need to play with more focus, better attention to detail, and to outright play harder. And yet Sunday, that never manifested for more than a few minutes in the first half.
“Just [need to] put actions behind the words,” Paul George said after the Clippers loss. “Put action being the words. I mean, a positive note, this group has done a great job in the years I’ve been here or figuring it out. However long it takes at whatever point it is, we’ve done a great job of figuring it out. Now, it’s just putting action behind what we’re saying and actually going out there and getting the job done.”
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Following a day off to unwind on Friday, head coach Tyronn Lue spearheaded a productive practice Saturday, where he showed players film of them making the right reads on both ends and how to improve on those.
The Pelicans didn't shoot particularly well Sunday, but were still able to get essentially any shot they wanted. Zion Williamson, Jonas Valanciunas, and Larry Nance Jr. bullied the Clippers' lineups in the paint. CJ McCollum methodically picked the Clippers apart. Trey Murphy was uncharacteristically off from three, but every look he had was a clean one.
“We’re just not doing what we need to do, point blank, period,” Paul George added. “Another team that came in, shot the ball well from the three, from the general field goal, all around the court. There are teams that are shooting the ball well against us. We’re not playing the defense that we need to be playing.”
The absence of Kawhi Leonard isn't the reason for this slump, but there's definitely a bit of a cloud as far as his availability.
Leonard has now missed three consecutive games, and the Clippers have already ruled him out for Monday night's game against the Houston Rockets. At this point, the team hoped to have Leonard for games outside of back-to-backs, but that isn't the case. Throw in the minutes restrictions for some of the other guys on the team, and Tyronn Lue's had to craft a few lineups on the fly to try and make up for it.
Still, George isn't blaming the poor play on restrictions or player absences.
“We’ve still got a job to do. As one of the leaders of this team, we still got a job to do regardless of who’s playing, who’s not playing. We’re just not doing what we need to do, point blank, period.
“I think we just got to raise the intensity. I think from an intense level, again, it comes down to identity, who we’re gonna be, and with that we’ve got to raise the intensity on both sides.”
Outside of his impressive 40-point night without Kawhi Leonard against the Sacramento Kings, George has struggled on both ends. He's shooting just 38.8 percent in five appearances, which plummets to 31.5 percent if you omit the 16-of-31 shooting night he had against the Kings. Including Sunday, he's just 9-of-35 (25.7 percent) on threes this season as well.
Paul George fully admits that, especially without Leonard, the burden is on him to carry this team and get them back on track.
“It starts with me. I was poor tonight, been poor the past couple games. I’ll get it together. I’m committed to my work, I’m committed to this team succeeding. It starts with me, I got to get better, I got to do better. But then past that, we’ve got to collectively be a better team and, again, have an identity out there on that court.”
“We gotta raise the intensity on both sides. It starts with me. I was poor tonight, been poor the last couple games. I’ll get it together. I’m committed to my work.”
Paul George on the Clippers struggles pic.twitter.com/FEK2lxZ1CT
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) October 30, 2022
The Clippers won't have long to hand their heads and ponder this one, as the Houston Rockets are in town to play them on Monday night. With it being the second-half of a back-to-back set, John Wall is expected to join Kawhi Leonard on the sidelines, further shortening Tyronn Lue's rotation.
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