SAN FRANCISCO — When the Clippers left San Antonio the night before Thanksgiving, they had won three consecutive games and looked to be, as wing Paul George said, “in good shape.”
“We’re playing well, we liked how we looked offensively and defensively and it’s time to test it,” George said then.
The test was how they would fare in what came next — their season’s first stretch of five games in seven days, all against teams who would figure in the Western Conference’s playoff race.
The result, a 2-3 record, was a microcosm of an up-and-down season that is nearly one-quarter over.
Though the team has gradually looked more comfortable together one month and one starting lineup change since acquiring James Harden, they have not been consistent. And though Wednesday’s win in Sacramento provided what coach Tyronn Lue called “the blueprint” for how they intend to play, executing it has been a different matter.
Kawhi Leonard scored with 23 points, but Tyronn Lue’s shift to a small lineup couldn’t save the Clippers in a 120-114 loss to the Golden State Warriors.
Their past week has included a disjointed loss to New Orleans, followed a day later by an impressive win against Dallas; a loss to short-handed Denver that was so frustrating to so many on the team that they didn’t shake the after-effects until routing Sacramento two days later; and followed by Thursday’s 120-114 loss at Golden State that leaves the team 8-10 overall.
“As someone who’s played on a team like that, with a bunch of superstars, all-stars, it takes time for it to come together,” Warriors star Draymond Green said before adding: “Still got to give it more time to figure out and work out the kinks and also learn how to play together. That matters in this league. Continuity matters. You look at it on paper and it’s beautiful to have all those guys who we know what they’re capable of doing, but I also know that it does take time.”
Here are five takeaways from the Clippers’ last five games:
Since Russell Westbrook’s move to the bench and Terance Mann’s insertion into the starting lineup Nov. 17, the new starters have outscored opponents by 73 points in 147 minutes, with an assist-to-turnover ratio of almost three to one, while shooting 41% on three-pointers.
That continued in the past week: Plus-29 in scoring margin, on 43% three-point shooting, with 50 assists against only 17 turnovers in 99 minutes together. Their commanding play Wednesday in Sacramento led Lue to declare it the “blueprint.”
After seven turnovers against Sacramento, they committed only six the next night despite playing through fatigue.
“No offensive rebounds, no second-chance points, get back in transition, no turnovers,” center Ivica Zubac said. “Once we do that stuff, we’re pretty good.”
The Clippers are clearly still sorting out how to make the most of a star-studded group that has shown occasional flashes of being a team.
Mann has reminded why he earned a starting job in the preseason, before injuring himself. Since joining the starters he has posted the team’s second-best on-off numbers, which measures the team’s success with a player on the court versus off. Per 100 possessions since the lineup change, the Clippers are 12.5 points better when Mann is on the court, and 3.9 points worse when he sits; only Harden has produced better on-off numbers in that span. Mann also began to find himself offensively during the past week; after scoring in double figures once in his first eight games, he’s done it twice in the past four.
“When you talk about guys that really understand and play their role, T-Mann is right up there with the best as far as understanding what we need from him every night,” Lue said.
Ditto for Kawhi Leonard, who had scored 30 or more points once in his first 15 games but twice in his last three, against the Kings and Nuggets.
At month’s end, they are just 2-8 in games within five points in the final five minutes. Only the Detroit Pistons, losers of 16 consecutive games, have a lower field-goal percentage in “clutch” situations than the Clippers’ mark of 25%.
Leonard has yet to make a clutch field goal (0-of-10) since Harden’s debut Nov. 6. When Harden made a three-pointer in Thursday’s fourth quarter, it was his first field-goal attempt in a fourth quarter in more than 18 minutes spanning three games.
In the wake of the James Harden trade, the Clippers have lost six consecutive games and are 0-5 this season in close games. What is happening?
One of the league’s best at generating steals all season, the Clippers don’t turn over opponents late in close games. Meanwhile, their opponents have grabbed a league-high 51% of available offensive rebounds. Add the two together, and opponents are getting extra possessions. In the last week, as they went 0-3 in clutch games against New Orleans, Denver and Golden State, the Clippers have held opponents off the offensive glass — but largely because those same opponents simply aren’t missing shots, with an effective field goal rate of 61%.
“We feel that we’ve been there as a group and we’ll overcome those situations, hopefully when they matter,” George said. “But we know we do got to clean up some things down the stretch to get better going forward.”
Lue’s coaching staff has set certain targets for how they should play every game. Among them: Taking at least 36 three-pointers, committing fewer than 12 turnovers, and 24 assists. They know where their focus needs to be defensively as well.
“I think if we can keep teams in halfcourt sets, not give them easy baskets, and rebound the ball, I think those are the two areas that we’re struggling in, especially in losses,” George said. “In wins, you know, it’s glaring that we took care of those two. And in losses, you know, we’ve struggled. So those two areas, I think personally is ... what we’ve got to get better.”
The Clippers’ trio of Kawhi Leonard, Paul George and James Harden all found their offensive rhythm on the same night.
George is right. In wins all season, the Clippers are averaging 47.4 rebounds, five more than in losses. In the past five games, the gap is even wider — a difference of nearly eight rebounds between wins and losses. During the last week, Dallas and Sacramento averaged only 102 points in their losses to the Clippers. Meanwhile, Denver, New Orleans and Golden State averaged 116 while beating the Clippers.
No defensive performance this season was more puzzling than against Denver on Monday. Lue called the breakdowns “elementary.” The Nuggets constantly sneaked behind the back line of a defense whose “low man” was rarely in position. Against Golden State, Green also hurt the Clippers that way.
“I feel like we’re starting to get a little flow going,” Leonard said when asked about his impressions of the last week. “Still need to improve on the defensive end, I feel like. Lot of easy layups for them tonight, open threes, we got lucky because they missed some.”
Lue doesn’t expect the Clippers to play a breakneck style reminiscent of the seven-seconds-or-less Phoenix Suns from more than a decade ago. But when he says he wants the Clippers to play with pace, he means calling out plays as soon as possible after the possession starts, making quick decisions with the ball, and moving off the ball with purpose and quickness. That, he had noticed, was partly how the Brooklyn Nets torched opponents when they were incorporating Harden in 2021 with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, both quick decision-makers, in addition to shot-makers.
In contrast, Leonard is used to being able to “survey” defenses. It is an adjustment to make defenses react to you, rather than reacting to defenses.
“Teams are not prepared, and are not ready for it,” Lue said.
Sometimes, the Clippers haven’t looked prepared for it, either. Lue described the offensive flow in a loss New Orleans as “nasty.” Three days later, it was “nasty offensively — too slow, too methodical” against Denver. The win against Sacramento provided Lue’s best evidence yet to players about the virtues of playing faster, saying that Leonard was the best at going quickly that he’d seen in their four previous seasons together. As Leonard got going, Harden and George carved out moments where they could find a rhythm as well — the first proof this season that all three can do it in the same game.
The Clippers have their issues, but the health of Leonard and George is not one right now. That’s significant because in four previous seasons together, keeping both available has been this team’s biggest hurdle.
After an injured MCL ended Leonard’s season last April, in the same knee in which he’d torn the ACL two years earlier, he has played the first 18 consecutive games to start the season, the most he’s played in a row to start a season since 2016. Leonard said Thursday he feels as good as he has since before injuring his knee during the 2021 postseason.
Clippers executive Lawrence Frank said the team still is trying to maximize the window during which Paul George and Kawhi Leonard could win a title.
George also entered this season coming off a knee injury but has averaged 35.4 minutes and, like Leonard, has yet to miss a game. This is the longest George and Leonard have played together as teammates. Lue felt George looked tired against the Warriors, the evidence coming in the form of shots that missed short, but he’d played 41 minutes only 24 hours earlier.
A healthy George and Leonard matters for reasons beyond the obvious, that both remain all-league-type talents. When both were inconsistently available last season, it yo-yoed teammates between roles with often very different responsibilities — a third option now asked to be a No. 1, a reserve suddenly elevated to starter. The lack of continuity built frustration. With both in the lineup, role definition has been more predictable for their teammates.
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