PLAYA VISTA — It would be easy to skip the hard part and concentrate on getting to the reward. But Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said looking past the final 15 games in favor of the playoffs is not what’s going on, despite the outward appearance.
The Clippers have slipped into something of a funk lately. They have lost four of their past five games, haven’t put together more than two victories in a row since early February and have struggled to find the ability to grind out games.
Lue said before Tuesday’s practice that the team has not lost its way, not with the playoffs around the corner. He said the players know they can’t skip the process or steps needed to finish the regular season strong and to get back to the way they were playing before the All-Star break.
And that starts with Wednesday’s game at the Portland Trail Blazers, not five games from now, not next week.
“Let’s start with tomorrow. Let’s show improvement tomorrow and then let’s show improvement on Friday (again against the Trail Blazers) and let’s continue,” Lue said.
“I mean we’ve done it. They know the blueprint. I mean, we just went 26-5. They understand what it takes to do it and so we just got to do it every single night. We can’t get comfortable with the process. We can’t think we’re better than we are. We can’t fall into the trap of being tired. Let’s just do what we need to do and we’ll be OK.”
Lue said the losses aren’t their biggest problem. It’s the way they are playing, bad habits like lack of proper spacing, defensive lapses and turnovers, that have led to deep deficits and losses.
“Y’all chart losses, wins and losses. I chart how we’re playing and if we’re playing the right way. You can play and do everything the right way and still lose and you can go home, and you feel good about it,” Lue said. “But when you lose and you don’t play the right way or we don’t do the things we’re supposed to do and we don’t execute, then that’s harder to take home.
“Those are the things we got to get back to doing is having those habits on both sides of the basketball with our space and defensively having a physicality, hitting first when the shot goes up, getting back in transition. Those are things that we can control and it’s not a hard thing to do.”
Getting there, though, is a process, one that the Clippers need to embrace if they hope to hang on to the No. 4 spot in the Western Conference. At 42-25, they are one game ahead of the New Orleans Pelicans (41-26) and five games out of first.
“Just stick to the process, understand that we got to execute and do the right things on both sides of the basketball, which I’ve been preaching,” Lue said. “We understand we got to get back to being a defensive-minded team.”
Lue said one of their issues is that teams have figured out how to defend their four future Hall of Famers. For instance, opponents have started double-teaming Kawhi Leonard, diffusing James Harden’s aggressiveness and overall wearing down the oldest team in the league – not just physically, but mentally.
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“I’m not a big excuse guy, but I think they’re getting a little worn down, you know,” Lue said. “I think. But they’ve got to mentally fight through it and it’s going to be tough challenges. We understand the travel, we understand the back-to-backs and all, but we just got to fight through it. That’s not an excuse. … It can be mental, but we just can’t let that seep in.”
Terance Mann said if there was one thing where he has noticed a difference lately is in the team’s mentality. Kawhi Leonard said after their loss to the Atlanta Hawks their problems lie “between the ears with us.”
“It’s just mental,” Mann said. “(There’s) not the same intensity level. I don’t know. We’ll figure it out.”
Clippers at Trail Blazers
When: 7 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Moda Center, Portland, Ore.
TV/radio: Bally Sports SoCal/AM 570 KLAC