LOS ANGELES — Led by Reggie Jackson, Marcus Morris, and head coach Tyronn Lue, the Los Angeles Clippers competed until the very end. Their season, filled with marvelous comebacks and every obstacle imaginable, came to what feels like an unfortunately fitting end this past Friday night.

The Clippers dropped their second play-in game of the end-of-season tournament, losing to the Pelicans, 105-101. The day started with the news that star Paul George, who had worked his way back from an elbow injury to be able to help his team into the playoffs, tested positive for COVID-19. He was symptomatic and was forced to miss the biggest game of the season.

“Man, that was very tough going out without our best player,” Marcus Morris said after the game.

“This one is tough, tough loss to take,” Reggie Jackson added. “Had two chances at it. Two cracks at it. Didn't get in unfortunately.”

The Clippers played 51 of their 82 games without Paul George as he recovered from a torn UCL in his right elbow. With Kawhi Leonard also out for the entirety of the season, Jackson and Morris were routinely asked to step up and be something they weren't anymore at this stage of their careers: go-to, No. 1 options.

By all accounts, Reggie Jackson and Marcus Morris fared well. Jackson saw a usage rate of 27.6%, a workload he hasn't seen since being traded to the Detroit Pistons in 2015 as a 25-year-old. Marcus Morris saw his jump to 23.2% this year, and the only time he ever took on a higher rate was during his 43-game stretch with the New York Knicks during the 2019-20 season.

“Just their approach every single day I think was huge for this team and for our young guys to see how they came to work every day, the message they were delivering,” Tyronn Lue said of the Clippers' trio of Jackson, Morris, and Nicolas Batum. “Just teaching these young guys how to work and what it takes to be a pro. Every day they brought that. So that's all you can ask from your veteran guys and your veteran group. They did that.”

Despite missing the playoffs, the Clippers finished with a 42-40 record. That mark ensured that the league's longest active streak of consecutive winning seasons stretched to an 11th straight year for LA. that mark alone still remains somewhat astounding considering Kawhi Leonard missed 82 games, Paul George missed 51, Marcus Morris missed 28, Nicolas Batum missed 23, and Norman Powell missed 23 of a possible 28 games since the trade sending him to the Clippers.

Those numbers don't even include the exorbitant amount of games missed due to health and safety protocols in the months of December and January.

“It's been an unbelievable season, you know, for our guys, and everything we had to go through,” Lue said “Like our fans, you know, staying loyal, and continuing to support throughout the whole season. Tough situation tonight, ending the way it did. But for the guys in the locker room, they scrapped and the way we competed all year long. No matter who played, no matter who was in the rotation, who was in and out.

“It’s most disappointing for those guys in the locker room who have fought and clawed all year to have to end like this. But we gotta hold our heads high. Some great things to be proud of, and get ready, keep rebuilding and get ready for next year.”

This marks the first time in five seasons that Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue will not be in the conference Finals. In his first three seasons in Cleveland, his Cavs reached the NBA Finals. Last year, the Clippers reached the Western Conference Finals.

“I've never not been in the playoffs as a coach,” Lue added with a smile. “As an assistant, as a head coach. It's tough. It's tough. But it's gonna make me stronger. I've been through a lot worse. I am disappointed in us not being able to make the playoffs, no matter who was playing.

“But I’m not disappointed at all in these guys in the locker room. Like I said, every single night they gave me everything they had, and our coaching staff was phenomenal all year long just making sure guys were ready all year and stayed the course. … I’m just happy and proud of our guys for the season that we was able to overcome all year long.”

Now, the Clippers look ahead to next season. For the next few months, no one will have to wonder whether Kawhi Leonard is coming back for the playoffs or if he's on speaking terms with the organization — that was running rumor/theme of the last few offseasons.

The team can certainly make some moves to get younger and more athletic. If there's one thing that absolutely killed the Clippers this season, it was the amount of offensive rebounds they gave up. Marcus Morris also expressed his belief that the team missed a legitimate playmaker with the second unit.

“I would say one of our biggest needs is a backup point guard,” Morris said in his final interview before the summer. “We played a lot of the season without one and Terance Mann did a great job stepping in, and starting and being a backup PG, but the whole season we didn't have a backup point guard. I think that's probably the biggest thing.”

For Reggie Jackson, that missing piece was simply health.

“Just got to get rest,” Jackson said. “Gotta go back, get rest. Hopefully everybody can get healthy, get your mind right, take care of your body, do everything you gotta do so you can come back. Hopefully, like I said, we are all healthy, at the start of camp next year and hopefully we stay as healthy as possible throughout the whole year next year.

“Whenever you have a Kawhi Leonard and Paul George-led team, you feel confident. So we hope we can get our guys back, we hope we can get everybody fully healthy. I think the sky's the limit when you get those two. It's going to be about hopefully getting health, meshing, and everybody, like I said, improving individually, and then us coming together as a collective to figure out how we can be better as a team, and just hit the ground running next year.”

This season proved that the Clippers have the perfect head coach in Tyronn Lue and the perfect supporting cast around Kawhi Leonard and Paul George to compete for a championship. Reggie Jackson, Marcus Morris, and Nicolas Batum are the ultimate role players. Norman Powell and Robert Covington added so many lineup possibilities.

More than just the vets, this season allowed the young players to develop at a faster rate than anyone expected.

“With our young guys — T. Mann, Amir, Luke, Zu, Isaiah — all those guys had a chance to develop and play in meaningful games,” Tyronn Lue gushed. “And they played big this year for us.

“The Washington game [was probably season-defining], being down 35, showing who we really are every single night, just continuing to keep fighting till the horn goes off. That team was able to come back and win, and our young guys played unbelievable. The job Luke Kennard did and Brandon Boston and Jay Scrubb was out there, so just seeing our young guys and the effort they put forth even in a game that seemed like there was no way we could win. They competed till the end and we won that game. That was a big moment for me.”

The Clippers were the NBA's third-best 3-point shooting team on the year, and best since the All-Star break. Nine players shot above the league average of 34.4 percent from 3. That nine jumps to 15 if you include seldom-used or traded players like Rodney Hood, Semi Ojeleye, Serge Ibaka, and Xavier Moon.

“I just think when you get Kawhi back, top five player, you get PG, a perennial All-Star, your team changes tremendously,” Tyronn Lue explained. “Guys who have taken on bigger roles this year who have never been in this position before, they can kind of fall back into their original roles. We could be very different with those two guys back and those two guys healthy. And like I said, with Norm being able to get himself on track, learn the plays, learn our system, what we're trying to do, and we can be special.

“When we get our main guys back, we can be dangerous. But health is part of it, so we gotta stay healthy.”

For now, the Clippers must just rest up. Their early exit this year means they'll get approximately 10 more weeks of rest before the start of training camp for the 2022-23 NBA season.