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,…
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