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LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue has often talked about giving his teams a 10-15 game sample size before making changes to lineups and rotations. An unexpected four-game losing streak before Halloween, however, is forcing Lue to re-evaluate his options.
The Clippers fell to the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday afternoon, 112-91. The loss was the team's fourth straight. Despite Lue and multiple players repeatedly saying that the team needs to focus better and play harder, the Clippers haven't done that.
“We all got to figure it out,” head coach Tyronn Lue said after the loss. “It's not just on the players, myself included. If we are not going to be able to do things that we are supposed to do, then we got to do something different. So that lies on me. And we will kind of go from there. But we all got to be better. Look in the mirror and not out the window. That is what we got to do, we got to be better all around, collectively, not just the players, the coaches, everybody involved. I am not the one to point the finger. We got to do things better, do things harder. There is really no coaching for playing harder. Just got to do things a little harder, a little bit more pace put into the game.”
Funny little exchange I had with Ty Lue when I asked about the team’s body language over the last few days.
“When you’re losing, you got a good team and you have the talent to be good, I think that can happen.” pic.twitter.com/Geu0IKoaV0
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) October 31, 2022
It's not like a lot of these games have been close, by the way. Three of the four losses in this four-game skid have been by at least 14 points. The one that wasn't was an eight-point loss in a game the Clippers trailed by 14 with 1:30 remaining in the game.
So what can the Clippers do to bounce back out of this hole they have found themselves in?
“One, make some shots. That is one way. Two, play with more pace, more physicality. And three, play harder. Play harder.
“You're in a hole right now, we are in a hole right now and we have to do these things every single night which we talk about. And so either we got to get better at it or we got to do something different. I am not up to that point yet but we got to do some things better. And we’re not a very good basketball team right now and we got to change that.”
"Either we gotta get better at it or we gotta do something different. I'm not to that point yet, but we just gotta do some things better. We're not a very good basketball team right now. We gotta change that."
Ty Lue after the Clippers' 4th loss in a row pic.twitter.com/c5STHP6Vpg
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) October 30, 2022
One thing that was apparent Sunday was the body language. The disappointed faces and sulking shoulders were hard to ignore, and although the Clippers said all the right things postgame, there was a level of frustration that was hard to ignore. It was even more evident once the locker room opened up for media 35 minutes after the buzzer and only three players remained, either to finish a postgame workout or get some therapy done.
“I mean, when you’re losing, you got a good team and you have the talent to be good, I think that can happen,” Lue explained. “So having a nine-point lead in that second quarter, and then going into halftime tied, there’s going to be some shift in your body language because we know we can play better and we can do things better. No reason to hang our heads, we just got to be better, all the way around. And so we have another game tomorrow. That’s the great thing about the NBA. Let’s see what we are made of tomorrow.”
RELATED: Paul George's Honest Reaction To Clippers' 4-Game Losing Streak
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Kawhi Leonard missed his third consecutive game, and it'll be four in a row when he sits on Monday night's game against the Houston Rockets. The Clippers remained vague about his status, saying only that he's rehabbing the knee to address the stiffness he's currently experiencing.
Tyronn Lue did quell some of the Kawhi Leonard concerns pregame in two ways. First, he said that Leonard was feeling good, which is obviously a great sign. Second, Lue moved Norman Powell from the starting lineup to the second unit, a move he says is designed to get him better prepared for the role he'll have coming off the bench when Leonard is healthy and able to start.
It's not entirely clear when Leonard will be healthy and available to return to the lineup, but it doesn't seem far off.
“It’s going to be a game-to-game thing right now,” Tyronn Lue said of Kawhi Leonard. “We know he’s out tomorrow (against the Rockets). I think it’s going to be a game-to-game thing. He’s feeling better, we just continue to rehab and just try get rid of the stiffness he had going on in that knee, but he is feeling better so that’s a great sign.”
Tyronn Lue says moving Norman Powell to the bench is to prepare him for the role he’s going to have when Kawhi Leonard comes back and starts for the Clippers https://t.co/LK0KyEb2zm
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) October 30, 2022
With four losses in the last seven days, the usually level-headed Lue is remaining positive. After all, the season is only six games or 12 days old.
“I think just stay positive. I’m a little upset right now, but tomorrow I’ll be different. But staying positive. Continue to put the work in. And we did some good things early on, in that first half. We did some good things. And so that’s where we got to continue to show film, you know. Just things that we were doing well, things of having the right intent offensively. I thought defensively we did some good things.”
Tyronn Lue wasn't the only one to express his feelings on the four-game losing streak, as Paul George made it very clear it's on him to lead the Clippers out of this rut.
The Clippers will be right back at it on Monday night for a Halloween matchup against the Houston Rockets, who are playing the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night.
