Kawhi-less Clippers lose last game of road trip to Kings
Without their superstar forward, the Clippers looked second-best in the state capitol.
SACRAMENTO — Tuesday began with a bit of troublesome news as LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue detailed at shootaround ahead of the team’s game with the Sacramento Kings later that evening that forward Kawhi Leonard was not with the team and had traveled back home after having a bout of what the team termed as right knee soreness.
The bad news didn’t stop rolling in for the Clippers as they were downed 109-95 by a Kings squad that came into Tuesday’s game having lost three of their previous four games and were missing standout guards Malik Monk and Kevin Huerter.
The Clippers (47-28) fell behind by as much as 16 in the first half before rallying to make it a three-point game early in the third quarter. Sacramento responded with a 30-14 run over the final eight minutes to take a commanding lead into the fourth. The game never grew close after that.
Despite the sour end to the trip, the Clippers did go 3-1 on their final true road trek of the season, a fact not lost on Lue after Tuesday’s defeat.
“I mean, great trip — three and one,” Lue told reporters postgame. “Coming out on this trip, to go three and one, I thought it was a really good trip for us.”
The Clippers have gone 25-15 overall on the road this season and are an NBA-best 19-7 away from home in 2024.
“We did some good things outside of giving up 20 offensive rebounds,” said Lue.
“But you hold a high-powered offense like this to — before the fourth quarter, before we got the subs in, we played some good defense. We didn’t get the rebounds we wanted to; had 16 turnovers, which you can't do. But I thought the intent was right. I thought we did some good things defensively and like I said, we didn’t come up with a rebound all the time, but I thought we did some good things and then we just didn’t make shots either. Yeah, couldn’t make any shots when we needed to.”
Kings center Domantas Sabonis made life especially tough on the Clippers, particularly in the second half. Sabonis finished with his league-leading 71st double-double and an assist shy of his league-leading 27th triple-double as the big man ended his evening with 22 points, 20 rebounds, and nine assists in 35 minutes.
“I thought [Clippers center Ivica Zubac] did a good job doing the pick-and-roll when [Sabonis] gets that little short roll to absorb the contact early and make him finish over the top, which he did a good job,” Lue said. “But I thought the offensive rebounds when Zu went to help or Zu went to go block a shot, the crackbacks wasn’t there all the time, and he got some easy baskets around the rim.”
Sabonis racked up seven offensive rebounds during his time on the floor, converting them for nine second-chance points.
“You give a team, any team in this league, numerous opportunities and second chances, they’re going to capitalize and it hurt us today,” Clippers guard James Harden said following the loss. “I think we did a good job in that first half. Second half, they made us pay.”
Harden was expected to take a more aggressive role in Tuesday’s game with the absence of Leonard looming over the team. Instead, Harden mustered only one made basket on just seven attempts — totaling six points — and turned the ball over five times in the process. But, as both Lue and Harden alluded to after the game, it wasn’t for lack of trying. The Kings simply snuffed out Harden’s effectiveness, the pair said.
“I mean, they were trapping me, so just trying to find the ways to be aggressive,” Harden told reporters. “I think [in] the pick-and-roll, they did a really good job of being up [the] majority of the game.”
Harden later added: “We got to find ways for me to not put myself in that position so much.”
The guard is averaging 13.2 points on 36.7 shooting over his last 15 games.
“They blitzed him all night,” Lue stated. “So, in the pick and roll he couldn’t really get his shots off, and maybe I could have did a little bit more ISO for him to try to loosen him up, but they showed they wasn’t going to let him play. ... With James, they just said they weren’t going to let him play.”
Paul George scored 13 of his 18 in the first half as the Clippers kept touch with a Kings team that looked the fresher and hungrier of the two squads. George also added four rebounds and two steals.
A talking point around this team for the better part of two weeks has been Tyronn Lue’s perceived shot at the players for the team’s identity, which Lue called “soft” after a recent loss to Indiana. George was asked about those comments following Tuesday’s game.
“I think it was kind of something that we needed to address internally amongst us in this locker room anyways, that we need to play a little harder and establish a toughness,” George said. “So, I think we felt it before it needed to be addressed.”
When asked if the team had learned anything about identity and toughness as the team went 3-1 over this trip, George responded: “I'm not sure. It’s a question you got to ask [Clippers coach Tyronn Lue] of where he think we are at this point.”
Russell Westbrook led the Clippers with 20 points on 7-for-14 shooting. Westbrook declined to talk to media after the game. Ivica Zubac finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds but struggled offensively as he made just five of his 14 field goal attempts. Norman Powell started in place of Leonard and tallied 17 points.
Second-year forward Keegan Murray had a hot start for Sacramento (44-31) before ending with 19 points. De’Aaron Fox struggled from the field, shooting 6-for-20 but did net 20 points and seven assists. Trey Lyles was impactful off the bench as he made three 3s and scored 15 points. Guard Davion Mitchell tied a season-high with four made 3s.
The Clippers traveled home after the game on Tuesday to prepare for a Thursday meeting with the defending champion Denver Nuggets (53-23).
A lot has changed since these two teams last met on Dec. 6 in Los Angeles, which ended in a 111-102 victory for the Clippers. The Clippers, believe it or not, are still mathematically alive for the 1-seed in the Western Conference. A win on Thursday would even their season series with the Nuggets, 2-2.
However, hope for the Clippers attaining the top seed in the West is extremely unlikely, if not improbable. They presently sit fourth in the conference, two games up in the loss column of both the Dallas Mavericks (45-30) and New Orleans Pelicans (45-30), and three games up in the loss column of the Sacramento Kings (44-31) and Phoenix Suns (44-31). Dallas is the most likely matchup for the Clippers in a 4-5 setting at this juncture.
“I like our intent,” Lue said after the game. “I like our competitive nature as far as guarding [on the defensive end] these last four games and how we approach the game. So, just continue to keep building off that.”
The Clippers will indeed attempt to build off of that with seven games left in the regular season. Six of those seven are at home. Unfortunately, the Clippers have lost their last five home games. If they’re able to right that ship, they’re a lock for the four-seed. Fail, and they could find themselves in perilous waters.
We need him so much, Justin, but in my opinion, we can win one of the first two games, and maybe he can play in game 3 and carry the team to win the series.