Clippers, after getting 1st home win in 50 days, set sights on an achievable bar

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Before Saturday night’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue made a declaration that raised eyebrows.

He intends to have the Clippers focus directly on a .500 season.

“We don’t have the record we think we should have right now, but that’s behind us,” Lue said. “Just talking to our guys today, our main focus, our main goals, is to try to be 35-20 the rest of the way, and just keep stacking wins from that.”

Never mind the fact that a 35-20 record from the 6-21 record the Clippers had entering Saturday would only put them at 41-41. It would be a non-losing season, but still one that would snap the Clippers’ 14-year streak of consecutive winning seasons, the longest active streak in the NBA.

Aim higher, yes?

The Clippers on Saturday scored their biggest win of the season by far, a 103-88 decision over the Lakers to improve to 7-21. An awful record, but better than being in last place in the Western Conference. It was the Clippers’ first win since they shut down the Atlanta Hawks the first week of December, the night after dismissing backup point guard Chris Paul. And it was their first home win in 50 days, since Kawhi Leonard’s Halloween buzzer beater over the New Orleans Pelicans.

Leonard played a big role in making sure the Clippers didn’t lose. He emptied the tank, playing a season-high 41:53 while scoring a team-high 32 points after a scoreless first quarter. Leonard grabbed a season-high 12 rebounds, including six offensive rebounds, his most offensive boards in a game in nearly five years. Even though Leonard struggled with his shot, missing 16 of 24 attempts, he attempted and made a season-high 12 free throws.

Leonard’s steal of LeBron James with 6:37 left to play capped a critical 8-0 Clippers run after the Lakers took 15 points off a 22-point Clippers lead, the largest of a game the Clippers never trailed.

“Now we got seven (wins),” Leonard said after meeting with the media nearly 90 minutes after the game ended. “So, let’s see what we can do. I mean, every win right now is very valuable.”

The effort Leonard put out was like a playoff game. That’s essentially what these games are for the Clippers going forward — playoffs in the winter. With that acknowledged, the Clippers still need to play better. They let a Lakers team without three starters (Austin Reaves, Deandre Ayton and Rui Hachimura) and that lost a fourth (Luka Dončić did not play in the second half because of a leg injury) begin the fourth quarter on a 12-0 run, holding the Clippers scoreless over the first 4:19 of the final period. LeBron James, at 40 years old, had his first 30-point game of the season, leading all scorers with 36. The Lakers soundly won the possession battle, outrebounding the Clippers 14-13 on the offensive glass while forcing 19 Clippers turnovers in a game in which they had only 11.

The Clippers did receive the gift of abysmal Lakers shooting, as the Lakers missed 40 of 50 shot attempts outside the paint. The Lakers made a season-low 6 of 38 3-point attempts (15.8 percent).

“I thought when Luka was on the floor, we did a good job, just paying attention to detail, how we wanted to play, what we wanted to do,” Lue said after the Clippers held Dončić to 4-of-13 shooting from the field and a two-to-four assist-to-turnover ratio in Dončić’s 19:34 first-half minutes. “When a guy like that goes out, you kind of let your guard down. And we played some — we didn’t play the right style of basketball once he went down.”

Dončić wasn’t the only player to suffer a critical injury Saturday night. Clippers ironman center Ivica Zubac turned his left ankle late in the first quarter and needed assistance to get up from Dončić and backup center Brook Lopez. Zubac limped to the locker room and was ruled out.

Zubac is one of three Clippers who have played every game this season, along with shooting guard Kris Dunn and power forward John Collins. Dunn and Collins are only starting now because of the season-ending hip injury to shooting guard Bradley Beal and the multi-week knee injury to forward Derrick Jones Jr., and Zubac’s injury comes with Jones progressing to five-on-five participation and nearing a return from a right MCL sprain.

“I spoke to him at halftime. He rolled his ankle or something like that,” said James Harden, who returned from a one-game absence due to a calf contusion to score 21 points and compile 10 assists in 40:57, his most assists and minutes all month. “Hopefully, it’s not too bad.

“This entire year, it’s always something, you know what I mean? It’s kind of frustrating. But the only thing you can do is just try to rally the troops and find ways to go out there and compete and try to get a win. It doesn’t stop.”

Zubac is set to be evaluated Sunday, and the Clippers have two days off before hosting the Houston Rockets. The Clippers have also been without first-round rookie center Yanic Konan Niederhäuser, who has left knee soreness. That leaves the 37-year-old Lopez as the starter in the event Zubac needs to miss time. Lopez’ mobility issues have been an issue in the team’s transition defense, and Lopez proved to be an unideal fit against smaller and sleeker second units, especially those with shooting centers.

But Lopez can still protect the rim, and he made 3 of 6 3s on Saturday. It will be Lue’s job to put Lopez in better position to utilize Lopez’s ability to be an interior threat, as Lopez can still be an effective post scorer.

“We got to try to get him down to the block, especially when smaller guys are guarding him,” Lue said of Lopez, whose average shot distance of 21.2 feet is five feet longer than it was last season in Milwaukee. “I’m not disappointed in the guys, because we had to play a different style of basketball, because Zu only played 10 minutes. So, you got to change, midgame, of how you want to play. I just don’t think we we’re prepared for that. But he’s huge because he can post smaller guys. We got to be ready to play through that. And when he’s on the perimeter, he can make shots.”

Another silver lining to Lopez possibly getting a run as a starter is what that may do for Collins, who was supposed to originally be in a tandem with Lopez as second-string bigs. Collins has struggled this season as a starter next to Zubac at times with his spacing and awareness, especially since Collins has made only 30.1 percent of his 3s this season.

But Collins played inspired ball against the Lakers, finally notching a double-double (17 points and 12 rebounds) while making 2 of 3 3s and collecting two steals and two blocks. The Clippers outscored the Lakers by 26 points in Collins’ 31:37. It was the first game all season in which Collins had multiple steals and multiple blocks, and the first time Collins had double-digit rebounds in any game.

Playing with Lopez allows Collins to be featured more often inside the 3-point line with Lopez spaced, while theoretically putting Collins in position to grab the rebounds that Lopez will box out for but not necessarily pursue.

“Brook’s an extremely good communicator,” Collins said. “Whenever I’m out there on the court, I always hear Brook. I feel like the whole arena does, too. That helps the back line and defense, as well as him being able to stretch the floor and shoot. It gives everybody a lot of driving lanes. So, obviously big fella’s versatility is really useful whenever he’s out there.”

The Clippers haven’t had a winning streak since Week 1, and they haven’t won three straight games all season. That is what they will be playing for when facing the Rockets and visiting Portland this week. It’s not rocket science as to how the Clippers have won their two December games, which came from allowing fewer than 100 points. Dunn’s defense on Dončić was a big key to starting Saturday that way, though Zubac’s presence also was critical in helping the Clippers get off to that strong defensive start.

Now, the Clippers have to re-establish a semblance of consistency, while possibly doing so without Zubac. And they need to be better if they want to salvage this season somehow.

“Once Zu went down, we had to play a different style of basketball that we’re not really good at,” Lue said. “Continuing to trust the pass, continue if you don’t have it, get to the next action. And I thought it was really disappointing, in the fourth quarter, just offensively how we played.”