No team wants to be known as soft. Yet, here is where the Clippers find themselves after a fourth-quarter letdown against the Indiana Pacers on Monday night that left them another rung down in the standings.
Coach Tyronn Lue’s postgame comments about the state of his team were not only harsh reality but maybe a challenge as the team enters the final 11-game stretch before the playoffs. They start that run with a four-game trip that begins Wednesday against the Philadelphia 76ers.
“That can be an identity if you want to call it that,” Lue said of the soft moniker.
The Clippers have three weeks to solve their identity crisis and fix their defensive breakdowns. They have proven that they can still score; they just can’t seem to get stops, especially in transition. For instance, they are averaging 116.5 points but allowing 115.4 points and 15.1 points off of fast-breaks.
“We’re not doing things the right way consistently (and) when you don’t do that, you’re going to lose games you should probably win or think you should win, and you’re not going to play as good as you think you should play,” Lue said.
Lue has said things need to change if the Clippers want to beat the top-tier teams. They are 1-9 over the past six weeks against teams that are .500 or above, prompting the talk of change and that includes Lue himself. He teased after a loss to Atlanta that as coach, he needs to do something different, although nothing drastic.
“Maybe it’s me. Maybe I got to do something a little different to make sure that we’re doing what we’re supposed to,” Lue said. “We are a veteran team. They know what they are supposed to do.”
Besides watching more film and practicing less, Lue has started tinkering with lineups. He played Ivica Zubac 25 minutes against the Pacers and rested back-up centers Daniel Theis and Mason Plumlee, subbing instead P.J. Tucker at the power forward spot.
Also, after logging solid minutes during Russell Westbrook’s absence, Bones Hyland is back on the bench. He has played a combined 13 minutes over the past three games. In addition, Brandon Boston is seeing an increase in playing time.
Another change Lue wants to see in the locker room is fewer buzz words, such as “identity” and “effort” and more accountability.
“We always talk about sacrifice, but I just told the guys, I’m getting rid of that word,” Lue said. “Like effort, I’m getting rid of the (word) sacrifice and call it investment. Like investing in the team, investing in what we need to do to win games.
“So, it’s not going to be about you, it’s not going to be about how you do, it’s about what the team does. And so instead of saying sacrifice, (say) investing.”
And that includes everyone on the team.
“We’re better than that and we’ve shown that,” Lue said of the ups and downs. “And so, we just got to do our job, one through 15 and the coaches. We all just got to do our jobs. Do your job, do what we asked you to do. And once you don’t do that, then we can adjust. Or when you do that, it doesn’t work, we can adjust.”
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Westbrook, who returned Monday after missing 12 games with a hand fracture, agreed.
“I think that’s where we start. We start with ourselves,” Westbrook said. “I start with myself, and then we come together collectively and figure out how we now bring what we all have and bring to the table as we’ve seen when we’ve done it the right way. It shows that we are a hard team to stop and we know what our ceiling is, we know how we need to get there.
“And I think ultimately as a leader, it’s my job just to hold guys accountable, hold myself accountable, and make sure that we stay together through this tough little patch that we’re having. And to me it’s as simple as that.”
CLIPPERS AT 76ERS
When: Wednesday, 4:30 p.m. PT
Where: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia
TV/radio: Bally Sports SoCal, ESPN, 570 AM