When the Indiana Pacers beat the LA Clippers 133-116 on March 25, it seemed like Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue had had enough. He was tired of talking about effort. He was tired of talking about sacrifice. He was tired of talking about identity.
The Clippers had lost for the sixth time in their last nine games. They found themselves tied for fourth place in the Western Conference standings with the New Orleans Pelicans, who hold the head-to-head series tiebreaker.
Lue had a button to press.
“Do we have an identity? Lue asked rhetorically. “I think so, we are gentle. It can be an identity, if you want to call it that. We have to be tougher, mentally and physically.
Calmly but directly, he challenged his team in a place where there was not much gray area.
“It’s not going to be about you or how you do, it’s going to be about what the team does,” he said.
The Clippers responded to Lue’s comments with action. And they did it by going as far from home as the NBA trade deadline, snapping their first three-game winning streak since February 5.
To start the road trip, the Clippers escaped Philadelphia with a 108-107 victory, which was arguably the most hostile territory the Clippers had played in all season due to the return of James Harden. Two nights later, the Clippers earned another close road victory against the Orlando Magic despite leading double-digits in the second half on both occasions. And on Easter Sunday, the Clippers held on for a 130-118 victory over the Charlotte Hornets despite allowing 23 3s.
“Getting a win the right way is the most important thing, but we still have a lot to build on and improve on,” Lue said in Charlotte. “We will achieve victory. The Philly and Orlando games were two good games that we needed – two tough wins, tough wins on the road. And then tonight, we have to continue even if we didn’t do a good job defensively.
Even with the three wins in Philadelphia, Orlando and Charlotte, no one should mistake the Clippers for a team that has solved all of its problems.
Prior to the Clippers’ most recent wins in the East, they were the last team in the NBA without a three-game winning or losing streak since the trade deadline. They haven’t approached the elite level of play they established between early December and early February, a stretch in which the Clippers won 26 of 31 games and had a better point differential than any Western team.
Eight Western Conference teams had better winning percentages than the Clippers in March (0.588), while 10 Western teams had a better average point differential this month than the Clippers (0.4).
But at this point, it’s important to win games by any means necessary. The victories in Philadelphia and Orlando, in particular, required games that required the Los Angeles All-Stars to assume roles that demonstrated their mental and physical strength.
In Philadelphia, Paul George got his first 10 rebound game of the season. In that same game, Kawhi Leonard overcame a rough start, missing 12 of his first 14 shots to make his final five attempts. Leonard’s last two baskets were good and 1s, including the final points of the game with 15.7 seconds remaining:
In Orlando, Leonard bounced back and carried the offense with 29 points on 12-of-21 shooting from the field. It was Leonard’s first game with at least 20 shot attempts in 26 days.
He also added 11 rebounds, marking his first double-digit rebounding game since Feb. 4 at Miami. The Clippers are 8-0 when Leonard (4-0), George (1-0), James Harden (2-0) or Terance Mann (1-0) get at least 10 rebounds in a game this season.
“We’re all trying to make a group effort to get a stop and limit a team’s second-chance points,” Leonard said Friday in Orlando.
“We just have to bounce back, period,” George said in Orlando. “Every team is going to crash against us because we have a smaller roster. If we can limit extra possessions and second chance shots or second chance points, it will only help us and improve our chances of winning.
While Leonard struggled in Philadelphia ahead of a big finale, George was far from starting the game against Orlando, missing eight of his first nine shots. The Clippers went more than 5 1/2 minutes without scoring in the fourth quarter, allowing Orlando to go on a 13-0 run. But following a Leonard miss after a timeout, Harden chased down an offensive rebound and George made a closeout from Paolo Banchero for a layup. This piece demonstrated a different type of effort and tenacity: getting touches of paint.
The Clippers are at their best offensively when their best players put their heads down and get inside, either to score themselves, draw fouls or step back for open shots.
“The layup was big, it helped,” George said when discussing the need to stay aggressive despite a tough stretch. “And then a 3 after that, I was kind of able to see the ball go in and catch a rhythm from there, which allowed me to be able to make the last shot for our team.”
Orlando’s final basket of the game was another example of how hard George worked, doing what a player of his ilk is supposed to do in big moments.
Instead of settling for a jumper, George put both feet in the paint, much like Leonard did on an earlier possession to give the Clippers a one-point lead. In this case, George was paired with Jonathan Isaac, the longest, but George was not fazed. Watch Leonard order Harden to the nearest side corner to allow George to isolate:
Offense came easy for the Clippers in Charlotte. George scored a season-high 41 points while making a season-high eight 3s, Leonard added 23 points and Ivica Zubac had a season-high 24 points on 7-of-8 shooting from the field while outscoring Charlotte 10-7 on the field. free throw line by himself.
The Clippers’ 130-118 victory was a reminder that this team is still capable of impressive offensive performances. LA is now 11-0 this season when scoring at least 130 points.
Harden was missing from Charlotte’s scoring performance, who managed just one shot while dealing with a sprained finger on his non-shooting right hand. Harden admitted after the win in Philadelphia that he wasn’t playing as well, which has been the cause of a lot of angst this month with the Clippers.
Harden’s scoring remained a concern on this road trip. He scored just 17 points combined in Orlando and Charlotte while making just 4 of 15 field goals and 2 of 10 3s. His three field goal attempts in Charlotte were the fewest he ever attempted in a game in which he has played at least 30 minutes in his career, regular or in the playoffs. Harden hasn’t scored 20 points in a game since leaving Houston on March 6.
Harden found his contribution in other ways, however. In Orlando, Harden pulled down eight rebounds and four steals, forcing Banchero into back-to-back turnovers on consecutive possessions in the final minute that the Clippers turned into decisive points.
In Charlotte, Harden compiled 10 assists without a turnover against the Hornets, only his third game of the season without a turnover and the seventh time in his career where he had at least 10 assists without a turnover.
Perhaps the most critical element for the Clippers to get through March was health. Russell Westbrook’s return was the final play in a difficult month that saw just one Clipper play all 17 games (Amir Coffey). Since his return, Westbrook has been limited to less than 20 minutes in all four games, but he is still averaging 3.5 rebounds and 4.5 assists while playing just 18.3 minutes per game.
Leonard said Athleticism that his hands will be fine even though he has favored them several times over the past two weeks after hard landings. George feels good physically and is starting to confirm it with his best game of the season. Harden hasn’t been great physically due to one illness or another, but he played and isn’t injured.
Now all Lue has to do is get the most out of his roster while hoping to gain home-court advantage and, at the very least, stay out of the Play-In tournament. March was a tough month, but the Clippers also had a 10-win month for the third time this season.
“I mean, we have to be better,” Lue told Charlotte. “But we still have a lot to do. We understand that. But every game is different. Teams play you differently, rotations are different, everything is just different. You just have to win matches in every way possible.
(Photo: Adam Pantozzi/NBAE via Getty Images)