The Los Angeles Clippers entered the All-Star break on a high. With Terance Mann as the starting point guard alongside Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the Clippers managed to vanquish two other playoff contenders in the Golden State Warriors and Phoenix Suns as they sat within striking distance of the third-seeded Sacramento Kings. However, they have gone winless since, even reaching the nadir of their season following a shocking second-half meltdown on Thursday night against the same Warriors they beat two weeks ago.

With all the new pieces the Clippers have to integrate, head coach Tyronn Lue has had his fair share of difficulties coming up with the winning formula. Nonetheless, the players need to take their part of the blame as well after letting the game get away from them following a rousing third-quarter effort from the Warriors that was reminiscent of the “Third Quarter Warriors” of old.

It's quite unclear if the Clippers can stumble upon the answers they sorely need before they fall off the playoff picture entirely. Nevertheless, Lue urged his team to remain focused amid the most difficult stretch of the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George era.

“For us, we just got to stay the course, got to be mentally tough, mentally strong, can't give in, and just got to be tougher. That's the bottom line. When stuff doesn't go your way, it shows you what you're made of,” Lue said, via RealGM. “I don't care about missed shots, it's going to happen. You're going to turn the ball over some, but you can't give in and my thing is just having that toughness and that mindset that, ‘OK, things are not going well, then let's do something about it.'”

The tricky part about the Clippers is that they haven't particularly shown strong mental fortitude in the past. As one may remember, the Clippers found themselves at the center of one of the most embarrassing 3-1 choke jobs in recent history after floundering against the Denver Nuggets.

Still, Tyronn Lue remains confident in his players' ability to turn things around, and he hopes that this confidence rubs off on them as well.

“I'm confident that we have a good team and they have to be the same way. They've got to feel the same confidence,” Lue added.

The Clippers have a chance to wash away the stench of their demoralizing defeat when they take on the Kings on Friday night in a rematch of last week's high-scoring double overtime thriller.