LOS ANGELES – Gas prices in Los Angeles are among the highest in the nation. If you're running low on gas, you'll have to fill up at a deep cost. Like most people in SoCal, the LA Clippers are running on ‘E,' and head coach Tyronn Lue is hoping his team can regain that fuel, power through the final three weeks of the season, and get some firepower back in the lineup.
The Clippers dropped their Friday night game against the Philadelphia 76ers, 122-97. It was their fifth straight loss, their longest such streak of the season, and it dropped them to a record of 36-39. The loss also marked the third straight game in which the team trailed by double-digits in the first half as they struggled to score the basketball.
Following the loss, Tyronn Lue was posed the question: Without Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and Norman Powell for so long, is his team just running out of gas?
“Looks like it don't it man?” Lue responded after the Clippers' fifth straight loss. “Looks like it a little bit, yeah.”
The Clippers have now played all 76 games without Kawhi Leonard. Paul George hasn't missed 50 games and hasn't played since Christmas. Norman Powell only played three games following the trade and has missed the last 18 games for the Clippers.
By all the accounts, this Clippers team has greatly overachieved and done so for an extended period of time. Every player on the roster, from top to bottom, has had to take on additional workloads to try and make up for the absences of about 68-70 points and $94.2 million in salary
Reggie Jackson and Marcus Morris have done all they can, and then some. Key veterans players on this team have had to play extended minutes, but the young players have also done a fantastic job bringing the energy, effort, and, ‘pop,' as Ty Lue likes to call it.
Now having lost five in a row, including two, hard-fought heartbreakers against the Cavs and Raptors, these Clippers as constructed need backup.
“Yeah, it's been tough on us as of late,” Ty Lue added postgame. “But we can't feel sorry for ourselves, just gotta keep plugging away, we was overmatched tonight. That's a good team over there and take nothing away from those guys and they played well and considering what happened in Philly, they had on their mind they wanted to come in and prove a point, they played well, we didn't play our best game. Marcus and Reggie struggled for us a little bit tonight, which hurts us, if they're not scoring the basketball and like I said, that's about it.”
So what's backup look like, and could it be on the way soon?
Paul George participated in practice Thursday for the first time since suffering his injury back in December. George came out of that well, said Tyronn Lue. Additionally, George participated in a full pregame workout with assistant coaches pregame, but there's still no timetable on his return. At this point, George seems likely to return within the next week or two if all goes according to plan with no setbacks.
More Paul George warming up. This is his first time warming up pregame at home, I believe. #Clippers pic.twitter.com/ACUT16uk94
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 26, 2022
Paul George warming up before Clippers-Sixers 👀 pic.twitter.com/LM969fyQnn
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) March 26, 2022
Norman Powell has yet to participate in practice or any contact, but has been shooting flatfooted since shedding his walking boot almost two weeks ago. The next steps for Powell would obviously be more weight-bearing on the injured, contact, and improving overall conditioning. Easier said than done. The feeling is Norman Powell is not far off from a return, but he's just not there yet.
Kawhi Leonard is the only player there doesn't really seem to be a timetable on at the moment. Leonard went through the extensive pregame shooting drill when the Clippers faced the Golden State Warriors two weeks ago, but hasn't been seen much at all since. There are reports that the forward may be able to return at some point in the playoffs since the regular season is appearing less and less likely.
Whether or not guys get back, the upcoming stretch for the Clippers continues to get tougher before it gets any easier. The team takes on the Utah Jazz at home on Tuesday before embarking on their final road trip of the season: a back-to-back set against the Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks.
“It's a tough stretch for us, but we've been through it before,” Lue explained. “We had seven games where it looked like it was gonna be tough to win, and we won four of out of those seven, so like I said, we still got a chance to continue to play well, got our guys some rest tonight, so we gotta be ready to bump the guy's minutes up, starting on Tuesday, and get ready for this last little push. So with Marcus not playing the second half, Nico limited minutes, got Reggie out, now we gotta start being able to push our guys forward, their minutes, starting on Tuesday.”
As it stands, the Clippers are seven games behind the Minnesota Timberwolves for the seventh seed and four games ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans and Los Angeles Lakers for the eighth seed in the West. It appears likely that the Clippers will hold onto the eighth seed, but it's not a foregone conclusion, which means a few more wins will likely be necessary to close out the season strong.
With just over two weeks left in the regular season, the Clippers desperately need to fill up for the road ahead or they'll stall.
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