LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Clippers may have gotten Paul George back from injury, but they also frustrated the hell out of head coach Tyronn Lue throughout and following Monday night's loss to the San Antonio Spurs.
The Clippers dropped their first game back following a two-game road trip, 116-92. It wasn't just that the Clippers lost, but it was the absolute embarrassment of an effort over the 48-minute game that led to one of the most frustrated postgame press conferences of Tyronn Lue's tenure as Clippers head coach.
“I thought they was faster than us tonight,” Lue said after the game. “I thought they outtoughed us tonight. 114 shots has to be close to an NBA record. I’ve never seen that. I’ve never seen that before, 23 offensive rebounds, so they got whatever they wanted. They controlled the whole game. I just thought their pace was fast and we couldn’t keep up with their pace, couldn’t guard one-on-one, pick-and-roll, they got whatever they wanted. That was an all-around poor game for us tonight on both sides of the basketball.”
The Clippers were outscored in the paint, 68-44, outrebounded on the offensive glass, 23-9, outscored in second-chance points, 27-5, and outscored in transition, 18-10. Essentially all the hustle categories were won handily by the Spurs, which gave the Clippers virtually no chance to even make this game competitive.
The wildest stat was the first one Tyronn Lue mentioned: San Antonio took 114 shot attempts to the Clippers' 88. The 114 shot attempts are the second-most attempts by a team in a non-overtime game since 2000. The top of the list is 115 by the Memphis Grizzlies in April 2021 in a loss to the Indiana Pacers.
“Shoot, we might need some Ben Wallace drills and Dennis Rodman drills, a bit of everything,” Lue joked. “I mean 23 offensive rebounds, that’s embarrassing. 114 shots? I thought they were really comfortable tonight.”
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Paul George finished with a game-high 25 points, six rebounds, six assists, and three steals in his first game back from an elbow injury. His solid game and return got overshadowed by the Spurs, who kept finding ways to mess with him over time.
When asked if there was any one particular number from the box score he was staring out, Tyronn Lue didn't hold back.
“114 shots! 23 offensive rebounds! I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that before. I got to go back, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that. Doing a better job on the glass, a lot of rebounding comes with physicality, I don’t think our physicality was there. Pick-and-rolls, I don’t think our physicality was there, getting into the basketball. It was a layup drill, floater drill, a walk in the park.
“We’ve got to look in the mirror, all of us, and come back with a physicality on Wednesday night or it’ll be the same result. So, offensively, moving the basketball, attacking the paint, making the right play, we did in spurts, we didn’t do it quite like we should have, and like we need to. And so we’ve just got to be better. It was an ugly way to play basketball.”
"114 shots, 23 offensive rebounds. I don't think I've ever seen that before… It was a layup drill, floater drill, a walk in the park. We gotta look in the mirror, all of us, and come back with a physicality or it'll be the same result."
Ty Lue after tonight's loss. #Clippers pic.twitter.com/1Zolu4nWq7
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 21, 2021
Paul George echoed Tyronn Lue's comments postgame, calling his team lethargic and unprepared.
“I thought we wasn’t locked in as a team,” George said. “A lot of game plan mistakes, and I thought tonight we were just a little lethargic, a little slow. Effort wasn’t there, energy wasn’t there, but you get games like that, I guess, throughout the season.
George returned to the Clippers' lineup after missing the last five games across 12 days with a right elbow sprain. According to George, he sprained a ligament in his right arm and tried to play on it before ultimately deciding to pull the plug to rest.
“I thought he moved well,” Lue said postgame. “I thought he did some good things, but now we have to learn how to play with him on the floor, which I thought we struggled with tonight.”
The return of Paul George also meant an increase in looks for Ivica Zubac, who finished with a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double in 27 minutes. While the Croatian big man enjoyed the return of his fellow starter, he also used the word “embarrassing” in describing the loss.
“It was embarrassing,” Ivica Zubac added postgame. “I mean, rebounding is a team job. Got to rebound if you want to win games. I thought tonight we did a terrible job of just after every shot, we would all get in the paint, and there was no one out there on the elbow or the free-throw line to get those long rebounds. I feel like we got to get better at that. Contest a shot, put a hand on your guy, and we got to be at those elbow areas. And we got to pick those up. Those are the ones that hurt us tonight.
“We didn’t try hard tonight. That’s what we were missing. It’s just from start to finish, no effort, no urgency, and couldn’t secure rebounds and it was just on and on and on.”
The Clippers take off to face the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night in the state capital. Sacramento has won both matchups against the Clippers so far this season, in large part because of their speedy guards and offensive rebounding. If the Clippers want to get back on the right track, a lot needs to change from Monday night's putrid effort.
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