INGLEWOOD–Of all the points Coach Tyronn Lue made about his team Saturday before taking on the hottest team in the Western Conference, one stood out.
“We’re not that good right now … we’re not very good,” he said.
The latest proof was an uneven 105-92 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder at Intuit Dome.
The Clippers showed a surprising measure of toughness in battling the unbeaten Thunder but in the end, they couldn’t match the energy of the Thunder’s young roster or Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s hot shooting.
Gilgeous-Alexander scored 25 points despite not playing seven minutes of the fourth quarter. He came back in at the 5:50 mark and did not score. He didn’t have to.
The Thunder had four other players shouldering the load, all finishing in double figures, led by Luguentz’s 16. Chet Holmgren had a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
The game ended like so many of the Clippers’ first four games – lost leads, close finishes and a fourth loss at the Intuit Dome. They have not won a game yet in their new arena.
This letdown could be attributed to fatigue. The Clippers were playing their third game in four nights, but Lue wasn’t buying it.
“We got to sustain it for 48 minutes,” he said. “Just being mentally tough, being strong. We’re not the only team playing this kind of schedule.”
The Clippers, behind Norman Powell’s continued solid shooting, kept the pressure on the Thunder for three quarters but couldn’t stop OKC in the fourth. The Thunder outscored the Clippers, 24-14, in the final quarter.
“We need to just keep attacking, but don’t do it just in the first half, do it both halves – continue to keep attacking, attacking, getting into the basket, getting into the rim and making the right play,” Lue said before the game.
“We have a pretty good offense, but we play random basketball.”
Random indeed.
The Clippers started off by building a 13-point lead in the first half and then fumbled it away only to regroup and hold a four-point lead at halftime. Four points against the Thunder, who shot 41.5% in the first half, was tenuous at best.
The second half has been the Clippers’ Achilles this season, that time of the game when they seemingly forget how to throw a pass or hold onto the ball. In their last game, the Clippers turned the ball over eight times in the second half and six times in the final quarter to lose a 21-point lead to the Phoenix Suns.
They couldn’t afford to make mistakes against the Thunder, who were outright swarming their opponents. Through five previous games, Oklahoma City forced 20.6 turnovers and left Atlanta Hawks All-Star guard Trey Young with 10 by the game’s end.
“We can’t be throwing cross-court skip passes,” Lue said. “We can’t be trying to drive into a crowd, trying to draw fouls. If it’s not there, if the guy is not open, we gotta make a simple play.”
Easier said than executed.
The Clippers started what they had hoped to be another big lead, putting up 19 3-pointers in the first quarter, tying a franchise record. It resulted in six made 3’s and a nine-point lead.
Kris Dunn’s second 3-pointer gave the Clippers their biggest lead of the half, 35-22, the sixth time this season that they have built a double-digit lead.
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But like their past two games, they couldn’t hold on to it, watching it dwindle as the Thunder picked up their energy and took a 48-47 lead with 3:11 left before halftime. OKC stretched it to 50-47 on a layup by Williams.
The Clippers didn’t flinch and by halftime, they had regained the momentum and a slim 57-53 lead.
Powell finished with 24 points on 9-of-14 shooting and James Harden had a quiet 12 points.