Twelve days, seven cities, six victories.
The Clippers’ recent stretch of games that took them from Toronto to Atlanta tested not only the team’s resolve to maintain its status among the NBA’s best teams, but also its defense.
Throughout the Grammy-induced trip, the Clippers found themselves trailing early or battling to hold onto leads late in games and using their explosive offensive power to propel them to victories.
So glaring were their defensive struggles that after beating the Detroit Pistons in a game in which they trailed early, All-Star Kawhi Leonard uncharacteristically spoke out and suggested the Clippers were winning games largely on their talent and that they needed to “be focused on execution.”
Leonard wasn’t wrong. After beating the Atlanta Hawks on Monday in a 149-144 shootout to go 6-1 on the trip, Coach Tyronn Lue pointed to the team’s sporadic defensive lapses. The Clippers’ lone setback was a 10-point loss on Jan. 29 to another of the league’s hottest teams, the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“This was a hell of a trip for us, you know. We go 6-1 against the caliber of teams we played on this trip. Coming into I, we knew it was going to be a tough battle,” Lue said after the Atlanta game.
“But I give these guys credit. We stuck with it, and we got down in some games early, continued to keep fighting,” Lue added. “And like I said, just a total team effort. Everyone contributed on all offensive end, but defensively, we got to get back home, and really start locking up defensively and getting better because we are better than that.”
But as Lue added, the season moves forward and with one day of rest, the Clippers (34-15), who have won 26 of their 31 games since Dec. 1, come home to face the New Orleans Pelicans (29-21) on Wednesday in the first of three straight home games.
“Yeah, that’s not fair, but it is what it is,” Lue said.
Unlike their defense, the Clippers have shown no slippage offensively. Leonard scored 36 points against the Hawks, marking the sixth consecutive game that he has posted at least 25 points. He is averaging 24.4 points and in his past 10 games, he has shot 58.1% from the field and 94.1% from the free-throw line, validating his NBA Player of the Week honors.
James Harden averaged 18.5 points, 9.0 assists and 6.5 rebounds as well as 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocked shots in his past 10 games, while Paul George has contributed 18.8 points and 5.1 rebounds per game during that same stretch.
“I mean he (Leonard) has been huge for us all year you know and the addition of James, James is being you know, massive,” Lue said, adding that George is stepping up despite a nagging groin issue.
“This is a team we have constructed. Like we have a lot of talent. We can do a lot of different things. We can play a lot of different lineups. We can play big; we can play small. And just continue getting better every day and just, you know, defensively.”
Despite their defensive inconsistencies, the Clippers moved into first place in the Western Conference (by percentage points) when Oklahoma City (35-16) and Minnesota (35-16) both lost on Tuesday night. They remain confident and committed to their goal of an NBA title, strengthened by what they accomplished on the road.
“We bonded on the road,” Leonard said Monday during an on-court postgame interview. “It’s very tough on the road and we were able to get it done.”
NEW ORLEANS AT CLIPPERS
When: Wednesday, 7 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/radio: Bally Sports SoCal, ESPN, 570 AM
