LOS ANGELES — Clippers coach Tyronn Lue called it a mental game, a contest that would not only test his players’ weary legs but their focus, challenges that proved too difficult to overcome.
The Clippers faced the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night for their eighth game in 14 days and the effects of a long road trip showed. There were 18 turnovers, 43 missed shots, too many bad passes and not enough production from their stars, resulting in a lackluster 117-106 loss at Crypto.com Arena – just their sixth loss in 32 games since the start of December.
From the onset, the Clippers seemed off-kilter. All-Star Paul George didn’t score his first point – a technical foul free throw – until three minutes had elapsed in the third quarter and his first basket 29 seconds later. He scored seven points on 3-of-15 shooting, going 0 for 8 from 3-point range, and had one rebound and four assists.
Fellow All-Star Kawhi Leonard didn’t reach double figures until the second half, finishing with a modest 15 points on 4-of-10 shooting, while Russell Westbrook lacked his usual energy off the bench and finished with four points, four assists and three rebounds.
Even James Harden didn’t play with his usual pass-first efficiency and left the game with a team-high 19 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
Norman Powell had 18 points off the bench and Ivica Zubac contributed 12 points and eight rebounds.
The Clippers – who had moved atop the Western Conference standings (by percentage points) when Minnesota and Oklahoma City lost on Tuesday night – managed to get their head into the game in the final quarter, quickly cutting a 10-point deficit in half at 79-74 on a 3-pointer by Amir Coffey and a 2-foot toss by back-up center Mason Plumlee.
With four starters on the bench, the Clippers continued to keep the margin close, pulling within 84-80 on a 3-pointer by Harden. But their efforts were undone by a lack of stops at the other end as the Pelicans ran off eight straight points to regain a 10-point lead.
The Pelicans, led by CJ McCollum and Zion Williamson, continued to take advantage of the Clippers’ mistakes to stop any further threat.
Playing through a bone bruise in his left foot, Williamson scored 13 points of his 25 points in the fourth quarter and finished one shy of his career high in assists with 10, taking over down the stretch with a series of unstoppable drives to the hoop. McCollum’s fifth 3-pointer with 5:15 to play stretched the Pelicans’ lead to 105-89.
McCollum scored 13 of his game-high 25 points in the fourth quarter and had seven rebounds, and Brandon Ingram finished with 15 points and eight rebounds.
The Clippers returned home after winning six of seven games during their Grammy road trip, a nearly two-week stretch of games that they won in different ways. In some games, they had little trouble with opponents. At other times, they had to find ways to overcome slow starts or poor defensive games. It seemed to take a toll.
“So, we can win pretty, we can win ugly, we can win in between,” Lue said. “If you’re going to be an elite team and a great team in this league, you got to be able to win in different ways in different fashions if we’ve been able to do that on that road trip.”
Back at home, they couldn’t find a way to overcome the Pelicans (30-21), who extended their winning streak to four.
From the opening tip, the Clippers looked like a team that had traversed three time zones in 12 days. They were erratic and error-prone and trailed by as many as 17 points in the first half before closing the gap to eight (55-47) in the final three minutes before halftime.
The Pelicans jumped out to an early 11-2 lead but were met with an identical run by the Clippers that tied the score at 13. New Orleans, however, continued to pound the Clippers inside, shooting 53.5% from the field in the opening half to build a 36-19 lead at the end of the first quarter.
It might have been the Clippers’ worst quarter this season. They committed eight turnovers, were outrebounded and outplayed in most other categories as the Clippers got little production from George and Terance Mann.
George and Mann combined were 0 for 11 in the first 24 minutes.
And when they did complete a pass or basket, it was met with a turnover or a 3-pointer by Trey Murphy. They kicked their defense into gear and managed to slow the Pelicans in the second quarter.
More to come on this story.