As Clippers resume schedule amid LA wildfires, they look to rediscover 'identity'
Its been a tragic week in the Los Angeles area, where wildfires have burned thousands of structures and completely upended peoples lives.
The LA Clippers have not played since Wednesdays 126-103 road loss to the Denver Nuggets, a game star Kawhi Leonard missed to attend to his family in the wake of evacuations caused by the flames.
Advertisement Leonard has since rejoined the Clippers, who are set to host the Miami Heat Monday night at Intuit Dome in their first game since the wildfires broke out.
The Clippers had one game postponed, a Saturday night home game against the Charlotte Hornets, and spent back-to-back days at practice.
On one hand, the Clippers are eager to get back on the court as the beginning of a healing process for an area that continues to be hit hard by this ongoing natural disaster.
Hopefully we can bring some kind of joy to the game, coming back tomorrow, coach Tyronn Lue said at Sundays practice at Intuit Dome.
Some togetherness, as far as you may.
Try to put smiles on peoples faces in these tough times.
On the other hand, the Clippers have been dissatisfied with their output on the court lately.
It would have been understandable for the Clippers to have their minds elsewhere in Denver.
Perhaps even expected.
Veteran Nicolas Batum said that he was up until 6 a.m.
the morning before the game checking his phone.
Im watching news more than I ever have in my life over the past three days, Clippers reserve Terance Mann said after Sundays practice.
Actually was just on YouTube TV just now watching the news in the locker room, just trying to get an update on whats going on.
The Clippers were never in it Wednesday night.
Denver was short-handed, missing MVP center Nikola Jokic and power forward Aaron Gordon, and playing on zero days rest after losing to the Boston Celtics the night before.
Still, they made more baskets in the paint (28) than the Clippers attempted (26).
Tyronn Lue attributed the lack of interior offense tonight in part due to the presence of DeAndre Jordan But T.
Lue also said Clippers didn't have pop, physicality, or fight and that team was not ready to play.
pic.twitter.com/vf7GF7VLKs Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) January 9, 2025 The loss, which dropped the Clippers to 20-17, was their fourth in their previous five games, all against Western Conference opponents on the road.
Guys put in a lot of work, guys are wearing down.
Guys are banged up.
...
You have to do extra stuff and carry a burden that youre not used to carrying.
It kind of weighs on you, Lue said.
So we just got to have a mentality.
...
We still got to find a way to have that pop and (play) hard, having a defensive identity.
And the last couple of games, we just havent been doing it.
Weve got to be better, top to bottom, offensively and defensively, Norman Powell said Wednesday.
We got to find our identity, find our toughness again.
Norman Powell expressed thoughts and prayers to those who are affected by wildfires "Hopefully firefighters and emergency services can get everything under control at some point." Powell stressed that there's no excuse once team steps on floor, though.
pic.twitter.com/hQSmFCEibK Law Murray (@LawMurrayTheNU) January 9, 2025 The Clippers havent played well for more than a month now.
Since Dec.
4, they have lost eight of 14 games, combining an offense that ranks 26th in the NBA in efficiency in that span with a defense that ranks 11th.
Even more than the turnovers that have plagued the team all season, the Clippers have slipped on the glass.
Only six teams have a worse rebound percentage than the Clippers since Dec.
4 .
Advertisement Center Ivica Zubac is the only Clipper averaging more than 4.2 rebounds per game since Dec.
4.
And several Clippers are going through 3-point shooting slumps over the last 14 games, such as Powell (35.1 percent), James Harden (33 percent), Kris Dunn (30.6 percent) and Derrick Jones Jr.
(23.5 percent).
Harden is averaging a woeful 5.4 turnovers per game since Dec.
4, with only 6.1 assists to go with 39.7 percent shooting from the field.
Winning is not easy in the NBA.
But of the Clippers last six wins, only one, the Dec.
23 road win against the Memphis Grizzlies, counts as a complete one against a strong, full-strength team.
The other five came against poor or severely short-handed teams, and some featured troubling Clipper performances: Last weekends win against the Hawks, in Leonards return , came against a team that played the night before and was missing Jalen Johnson and Bogdan Bogdanovic.
The Dec.
30 win at New Orleans required a 14-point comeback against a Pelicans team missing Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram.
The Dec.
27 win at home came against a Golden State Warriors team missing Stephen Curry and Draymond Green.
The Clippers had 12 turnovers in the fourth quarter, nearly squandering a 21-point lead.
The Dec.
19 win at Dallas came against a Mavericks team missing Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving; the Clippers were blown out in Dallas two nights later with Irving playing without Doncic.
The Dec.
16 win against the Utah Jazz came after a three-game losing streak and was the only game the Clippers played in a five-day span.
Wednesdays loss to the Nuggets puts the Clippers in a perilous spot with potential West tiebreakers.
As of now, the Warriors (3-0) and the Kings (2-0) are the only teams .500 or better in the West against whom the Clippers own a head-to-head tiebreaker.
Advertisement LA is 0-3 this season against the Thunder, Houston Rockets and Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Clippers did win at Memphis but have two meetings left against the Grizzlies.
Splitting the head-to-head series against the Nuggets (2-2) was a missed opportunity.
The Clippers are 1-1 against both the Mavericks and San Antonio Spurs and have two more games against each.
The Clippers still have four games left to play against the Los Angeles Lakers (20-16), which could determine a pivotal Pacific Division tiebreaker and, potentially, a playoff spot outside of the Play-In tournament.
The Clippers have relief coming.
Leonard is back in the lineup, and Manns return from a fractured finger leaves the Clippers without a reportable injury.
Six of the next seven games are scheduled to be at home, and they dont leave the Pacific Time Zone until Jan.
26.
Seven of the next 11 opponents are .500 or worse, not including a Miami Heat team that will be playing without suspended star Jimmy Butler.
Take advantage of it, Harden said Wednesday of the upcoming slate.
Couple of games we felt like we should obviously have won.
Tonight, we just didnt have the rhythm, which is a part of it.
Its a long season.
But we get an opportunity going home and do something special, take care of business, and get our rhythm back, get our swagger back.
Since Wednesdays defeat, the Clippers have spent much of their time focusing on things bigger than basketball.
It wasnt just Leonard who had to attend to evacuations and his family; members of the Clippers staff have been impacted by the wildfires as well.
As the Clippers resume their schedule, though, they know they need to string strong performances together again.
Not just for their city, but for themselves as well.
We got to look ourselves in the mirror and figure out what we can do better, Powell said.
Its not pointing the finger at somebody else.
Its pointing the finger at yourself and figuring out how we can be better individually.
And being better individually is going to help us collectively.
Thats the biggest thing.
Its nothing the coaches can do.
Its nothing that they can draw up for us.
Its us going out there with the mentality that were going to be the enforcers, were going to be the aggressors like we were to start the first 36 games, whatever it was.
Weve got to get our identity back.
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(Photo of Tyronn Lue: Ron Chenoy / Imagn Images).
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