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Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, and the LA Clippers swept the season series vs. the Los Angeles Lakers for the first time since the 2015-16 season. With LeBron James out and Anthony Davis only playing nine minutes, Tyronn Lue's squad rolled over the Lakers, 118-94.
Lue, however, was as angry as a coach could be following his team's 24 point win.
“We were just messing around too much,” Lue explained, citing the uncharacteristic, season-high 22 turnovers. “We got to be a more disciplined, more solid team, which we have been all season. Just lately, turning the basketball over, just messing around with the game, playing with the game a little too much for me right now.”
Rajon Rondo and DeMarcus Cousins will continue coming off the bench for the Clippers moving forward.
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) May 7, 2021
Leonard and George led the way with five giveaways apiece while Patrick Beverley and Marcus Morris added three to their names. Those turnovers, which led to a whopping 30 points for the Lakers, were really the only blemish on an otherwise good night for the Clippers.
“Some of that could be [learning new teammates], being comfortable, but when we come down, dribbling too much or trying to be fancy and cute, like there is no time in the game for that,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue continued. “So changing situations of what we're trying to run and trying to do is you gotta just stay solid, and you have a good team, sometimes you can get bored and depends on who you're playing, but we're playing for something bigger than that, and we gotta work on our habits, we got to get our rhythm, we got to get our flow, we only have five games left, so we can't afford to mess around with the game. And tonight, I thought that this was one of the games where we got up early and then after that we just kind of messed around for the rest of the game and we can't do that.”
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Paul George finished his otherwise solid night with 24 points, seven rebounds, and five assist son 8-of-12 shooting from the field. Kawhi Leonard added 15 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.
“I think we'll be all right,” Leonard said after the game. “Two of my turnovers were offensive fouls, so I mean, that's just being aggressive, being physical, one in the fourth quarter, that's just my mistake, not staying locked in, being up too many points. So we can live with that, but we just can't be passing the other team the basketball and letting them come down in transition and shooting 3s or getting layups.”
“That's T. Lue doing his job,” George added. “That’s been a big emphasis going into these games, is taking care of the ball. Regardless of the outcome tonight, we still got to do a better job as a team of taking care of it.”
The Clippers will now have two days off once again before the New York Knicks come to town for a Sunday matinee. As it stands, LA is the third seed, just a half game ahead of the Denver Nuggets for the third seed in the Western Conference.
