Defense fails Clippers as Pacers sprint to wire-to-wire win

The Clippers have dropped their first two games after the All-Star break.

(Photo credit: Trevor Ruszkowski-Imagn Images)

It hasn’t been the best of times for the LA Clippers since coming out of the All-Star break.

Following a rough loss in Milwaukee against the Bucks after holding a 13-point fourth-quarter lead, the Clippers never once sniffed a lead on Sunday afternoon in Indianapolis, falling 129-111 to a Pacers squad that outran them, out-schemed them, and, quite frankly, simply out-bested them in a wire-to-wire win.

The Clippers fell behind by as much as 22 before attempting to stage a comeback that came nowhere close as they trailed by double digits for the final 26 minutes of the game.

“Their pace really hurt us,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said postgame. “And then I just thought one-on-one defense, getting cracked off the dribble really hurt us as well. They played fast, they have shooting bigs, they can go small and I thought they was able to really use their speed and their pace against us to create open looks and get to the paint and get threes. We just didn’t do a good job of containing those guys in transition.”

It was quite possibly the most porous display of defense from the team all season, perhaps not in terms of raw points—they gave up 134 to the Oklahoma City Thunder earlier in the season—but the effort and tenacity on that end of the floor was lacking from the opening tip.