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LOS ANGELES — Despite a season-high 38 minutes from Kawhi Leonard, the Los Angeles Clippers dropped their sixth straight game on Sunday night to the Atlanta Hawks, 112-108.
The game featured a new, surprising starting lineup by head coach Tyronn Lue, who inserted Terance Mann and Nicolas Batum in place of the healthy Reggie Jackson and injured Paul George. While it worked for the most part, the second unit once again struggled to get stops with three guards on the floor
Leonard finished with 29 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. In his spot start, Mann finished with 14 points, eight rebounds (including seven offensive), and four assists.
Sunday's game was filled with scoring runs down to the final minutes, and the Clippers' inability to get stops late hurt them. LA led 102-91 with a little over six minutes remaining. The Hawks then outscored the Clippers 21-6 over those final six minutes to pull out the victory, with Trae Young scoring 14 of those 26 points.
Despite the loss, Lue says he came out encouraged by the style with which his Clippers played Sunday's game.
“Tonight we had a conscious effort of playing the right way and so I could live with the results. And so we gotta keep working. Nobody's gonna feel sorry for us. But I'm encouraged.
“I gotta keep going to the drawing board every night, trying to make us better. Continue to try to make sure we're doing the right things on both sides of the basketball and make sure our guys are positive. Tonight was a positive night for me, even though we lost the game and we talked about that all season. Like you could lose some games and play really bad basketball.”
With Mann starting, the Clippers increased their pace, played in transition a lot more, and repeatedly crashed the offensive glass. Jackson, who came off the bench in the first half, did not see any playing time in the second half as the Clippers elected to play John Wall as the lone point guard.
Tyronn Lue says that wasn't a decision made in the moment, especially as he and the team search for lineups and rotations that working.
Kawhi Leonard, who returned to the court for the first time since the team's dreadful blowout loss to the Denver Nuggets, believes the six losses in a row will display the Clippers' real chemistry.
“I think it's still good,” Leonard told ClutchPoints of the team's chemistry following six losses in a row. “Guys are still being positive. This is the spot where you see if you really enjoy the game and if we're a team, seeing if we can dig out this hole and you know, it is fun. It's a good challenge for us.
“I think we did a good job, like I said our pace was a little quicker off of their misses and even when they made the basket just getting the ball up. it translated us to having more pace on the defensive end. I think we did a good job.”
"This is the spot where you see if you really enjoy the game and see if we can dig out of this hole. It's fun. It's a good challenge for us."
Kawhi Leonard on the Clippers' chemistry after 6-game losing streak. pic.twitter.com/GAdFpCjM4y
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) January 9, 2023
The status of Leonard's running mate in Paul George as well as Luke Kennard both remain up in the air. George missed his second consecutive game with what the team is calling right hamstring soreness. Meanwhile, Kennard missed his first game after feeling some soreness in his right calf. Kennard previously missed a few games with a calf injury, but neither are expected to miss much time with their current injuries.
“I think it just starts with one game, winning it,” added Leonard. “Every possession matters, we gotta value every possession on the defensive end or the offensive end. So you just keep building that through a 48-minute game and see if we get it to win. And then you move on to the next one. Keep going.”
Terance Mann echoed a similar statement following the Clippers' sixth straight loss.
“I can’t really pinpoint one reason why. I think just picking and choosing when we’re playing hard. We need to be a team that plays hard for all four quarters and be physical for all four.”
The Clippers have fallen to .500 for the first time since Nov. 6 when they were 5-5. With 40 games left on the schedule, a lot of time still remains in this season, but the Clippers need to start putting together healthy games soon before they fall too far behind.
