Kawhi Leonard and Paul George are unlikely to return for the Los Angles Clippers, but that's not stopping head coach Tyronn Lue from instilling the utmost confidence in his team. Despite Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns having the star-power advantage, Lue's club is not satisfied with just playing hard.
The Clippers dropped Game 4 to the Suns on Saturday afternoon, 112-100. It was the second straight loss at home, which included a 129-124 loss in Game 3 Thursday night. Both games were tight until the end, despite neither Kawhi Leonard nor Paul George playing.
Playing hard in losses, however, is not enough for Tyronn Lue.
“I hoped to see a win,” Lue said. “We are not playing to keep it close. I know y'all might think that but we are playing to win. We had opportunities, second quarter, I thought we had eight turnovers, kind of got easy baskets, but our margin for error is slim. We've just got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball, which we did in the second half, and a better job on the glass.
“Our guys, we're competing to win. We are not competing to keep it close. You know, they played well down the stretch. I thought CP in that fourth quarter really carried them and made some big shots for them. But like I said, I did love how our guys competed and stayed engaged and locked in the whole 48 minutes.”
The Clippers arguably had their best chance at upsetting the Suns in Game 3. Norman Powell scored a playoff career-high 42 points, while Russell Westbrook finished with 30 points and 12 assists on the night. Outside of Bones Hyland's 20 points and Terance Mann's 10 points, the Clippers got a combined 22 points from the other six players who saw playing time.
On Saturday, Westbrook put the team on his back with 37 points, but only three other players reached double figures in scoring.
That can't happen again in a do-or-die Game 5.
“[We need] Big games again,” Lue said simply. “Big games from Norm. Big games from Russ. Big games from everybody. We need everybody to play well. Like I said we are scrapping and we are competing, and you know, but then we've got to be smarter. Just fouling the bonus and the penalty, taking care of the basketball, good shot selection. But overall, I love — like I say, exactly with what we're doing. I thought we were really good defensively tonight until that third quarter that kind of opened things up.
“They made some tough shots and that's to be expected. So same effort we had the last two nights, well, the last four games, same effort, same intensity, attack mentality like we've been doing. Like I said, I just thought Russ did a great job of just leading that charge, attacking the basket on the offensive end, defensively, guarding KD and Book. So I thought the guys did a good job of following his lead and we're going to need it again come Tuesday.”
Offensive rebounds and live-ball turnovers are what has allowed Phoenix to get out in transition and score easily, so those two keys will likely affect the next matchup.
Game 5 will tip off on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. PT on Bally Sports and TNT. The Clippers will look to stay alive and give themselves another few days for Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to potentially return, although it continues to remain highly unlikely that either star comes back from their respective knee injuries.
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