LOS ANGELES — Tyronn Lue and the Los Angeles Clippers had learned to live life without Kawhi Leonard, and now they'll need to do the same without Paul George.

George joined Leonard on injured reserve and is expected to miss at least the next three to four weeks with a torn UCL in his right elbow. The injury meant the Clippers would be without four of the players who started for them last postseason for Sunday's matchup against the Denver Nuggets.

George suffered the torn UCL during the Clippers' game against the Portland Trail Blazers on Dec. 6. He went on to miss the next five games before returning against the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 20. George then played two games before Christmas, and now he's out for at least a month.

“He was just having soreness after the [Sacramento] game and so he went to get an MRI and we got the bad news,” Tyronn Lue said Sunday. “That’s about it.”

Now the Clippers begin a stretch of 21 games in 37 games, 14 of which will be on the road. At this point, it's a cliche, but one that the Clippers will try to live by.

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“That's got to be our mindset and that’s got to be Clipper basketball.” Lue added. “Just try to play the right way and compete every single night. Guys get to step up but not do too much, just do it by committee and we’ve been here before. I know we hear the next-man-up mentality, but that’s how we got to be. We've done it for periods of time and now it’s going to be a little longer than we expected with both Kawhi and PG, but Reggie will be back soon, Marcus will be back soon.

“Just continue to build good habits on both sides of the basketball. Our young guys going to get some experience. Thought they did a great job in the Sacramento game of just pushing the tempo. I thought defensively, getting stops, and Serge with that second unit was pretty good as well. We’ve just got to continue to keep building off that.”

During the two-week stretch that the Clippers played without Paul George, they were able to rattle off three consecutive wins over the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, and Phoenix Suns. They also fought admirably, but dropped a tough game in Utah and another at the buzzer to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The formula for playing without Paul George is there, but it also starts with getting Reggie Jackson and Marcus Morris back. Both players have been in the NBA's health and safety protocols, but Morris tested out of it Sunday afternoon. Jackson isn't expected to be far behind, says Tyronn Lue.

“One game at a time. We lost PG for two weeks like you said, but then we had Reggie and we had Marcus for a little bit of that stretch as well. With those two guys being out, you lose your top four scorers with Kawhi, PG, Marcus, and Reggie, but our young guys have to come in and play well, play hard and compete. They’re going to make some mistakes and we're going to have to stay patient in that regard, but like I said I still feel confident that we got a lot in this locker room and we can still get it done. No one's going to feel sorry for us, everyone’s going through the same thing right now, and so our biggest thing is just continuing to build habits and try to win games as best as possible.”

The Clippers battled hard against the Nuggets on Sunday, but fell just short in a 103-100 loss to drop to 17-16 on the season. The first-place Brooklyn Nets are up next on Monday, though it's unclear if Kevin Durant will be back from protocols.