The mayonnaise has taken well for the Clippers who remain on 20 victories in 24 matches and set an impressive pace, carried by their quartet Westbrook-Harden-George-Leonard. “You almost have to play your best basketball to hope to beat them. They are on a good pace” can only observe Darvin Ham.
Tuesday night, his Lakers paid the price by losing 127-116. Despite the victory, Tyron Lue did not really appreciate the periods of relaxation of his team, which struggled to secure the victory, notably letting the opponent come back to 108-106 at the start of the fourth quarter. “It wasn’t high-level basketball. I don’t like to see that because I know we are capable of doing much better” analyzes the Clippers coach.
Without disrespecting the Lakers, who were still playing without LeBron James, Tyronn Lue simply wants to maintain a high level of expectations towards his group. For example, the Californian strategist did not at all appreciate the complacency and the 11 lost balls in the second half.
“It started in the first half and continued into the second half, we just weren’t very good defensively”, he regrets. “With a lot of missed rotations, no getting back in transition, and everything we said we had to do. We didn't do a good job tonight. Things we have to be uncompromising about every night. We got a little scattered. We just have to keep progressing.”
From the Clippers to the reveal of a long “road trip”
Despite his triple-double at 25 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, Kawhi Leonard also agreed with his coach, pointing out the defensive shortcomings of his team, on the lost balls which generated too many points in counterattack (22).
“They are a good transition team and we allowed them to play to their strengths. They came out with quick plays, put in lay-ups, made open shots… That’s what he’s talking about,” he confirmed. “It’s clear that some of his points were on our game plan, so we have to be better at that level, and focus on what we have to do before the match.”
Despite the difficulty, the Clippers nevertheless managed to find their basketball at the best time. And with three baskets from Norman Powell, they were able to go 11-2 to regain the lead (119-108) and continue their good momentum. For Paul George, this is also what we must remember from this type of complicated match, the ability of his group to respond when necessary. This is also what makes great teams strong.
“Not every game will be perfect. Even if we would have liked to seal the fate of this match well before, I think that we knew how to stay calm and that we knew how to do our job to finish the match well.”he stressed.
The character and physical resistance of the Clippers will now be put to the test with a seven-game “road trip” which will begin this Friday in Toronto.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Kawhi Leonard | 38 | 34.7 | 52.2 | 44.3 | 87.9 | 1.1 | 5.1 | 6.2 | 3.8 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 0.8 | 1.6 | 23.7 |
| Paul George | 40 | 34.7 | 46.8 | 41.9 | 91.1 | 0.6 | 4.9 | 5.6 | 3.6 | 2.1 | 1.6 | 0.4 | 2.9 | 23.5 |
| James Harden | 37 | 34.3 | 45.6 | 42.3 | 87.3 | 0.3 | 4.2 | 4.5 | 8.5 | 2.6 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 17.3 |
| Norman Powell | 42 | 25.5 | 50.0 | 45.3 | 87.5 | 0.1 | 2.3 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 1.8 | 13.5 |
| Ivica Zubac | 38 | 27.1 | 65.5 | 0.0 | 64.8 | 3.3 | 6.5 | 9.7 | 1.3 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 1.4 | 2.9 | 12.4 |
| Russell Westbrook | 42 | 23.1 | 46.7 | 30.6 | 65.3 | 1.5 | 4.3 | 5.9 | 4.7 | 2.2 | 1.1 | 0.4 | 1.9 | 11.3 |
| Terance Mann | 36 | 25.1 | 45.0 | 30.4 | 75.0 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 3.2 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 1.9 | 7.6 |
| Bones Hyland | 16 | 14.6 | 39.3 | 36.4 | 83.3 | 0.1 | 0.8 | 0.9 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 7.1 |
| Daniel Theis | 31 | 17.2 | 52.3 | 41.9 | 73.7 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 3.7 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 0.5 | 0.9 | 2.4 | 6.5 |
| Mason Plumlee | 12 | 16.0 | 68.6 | 0.0 | 58.8 | 1.0 | 3.6 | 4.6 | 1.2 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 5.7 |
| Kj Martin | 2 | 15.7 | 40.0 | 20.0 | 50.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 5.0 |
| Amir Coffey | 30 | 15.7 | 55.9 | 43.8 | 81.3 | 0.4 | 1.2 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 1.1 | 4.6 |
| Bj Boston, Jr. | 8 | 7.4 | 40.6 | 28.6 | 100.0 | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1.0 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 1.3 | 4.5 |
| Robert Covington | 3 | 23.1 | 33.3 | 25.0 | 50.0 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 0.7 | 2.3 | 3.0 |
| Moussa Diabate | 10 | 5.8 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 75.0 | 1.4 | 0.6 | 2.0 | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 2.7 |
| Nicolas Batum | 3 | 18.0 | 37.5 | 28.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 1.7 | 0.3 | 1.0 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 2.7 |
| Kobe Brown | 26 | 9.6 | 39.3 | 30.6 | 50.0 | 0.2 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 1.4 | 2.2 |
| Joshua Primo | 1 | 5.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 2.0 |
| Jordan Miller | 4 | 4.0 | 60.0 | 100.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.8 |
| Pj Tucker | 12 | 14.4 | 28.6 | 27.3 | 100.0 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 2.4 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 1.2 |
| Xavier Moon | 2 | 5.8 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.5 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 1.0 |
