Yet another day.
Yet another day was left earlier than the Clippers might slip into their snug sheets of their dwelling mattress, hug their family members, bask for a couple of days within the heat of the Los Angeles solar.
They had been on the street for 2 weeks, spending days of their lives within the sky. Certain, there was a enjoyable novelty within the group dinners and lodge hangouts, and sharpshooting wing Luke Kennard sprinting up and down their aircraft’s aisle to dole out high-fives after his Cincinnati Bengals superior to the Tremendous Bowl, however everybody was considering of getting again dwelling, coach Tyronn Lue stated.
First, that they had yet another sport to play, the decimated Indiana Pacers standing of their approach after a victory in Charlotte the earlier afternoon.
“It’s going to be exhausting, it’s going to be powerful — we perceive it’s eight video games in [13] days,” Lue stated earlier than the sport Monday evening in Indianapolis. “However it is a enormous sport for us, so we’ve acquired to be able to go.”
Lue was proper: This one was powerful. The Clippers got here out of the locker room Monday wanting like a group in want of a sizzling tub and some leg massages. For a minute, it seemed as if they might pull off one other signature comeback, chopping a 12-point fourth-quarter deficit to 3 with simply three minutes left — however the fuel tank was empty, and Indiana pulled away within the remaining minutes to safe a 122-116 victory.
“It's what it's,” Lue stated after the sport, shrugging off the loss. “Now it’s time to return dwelling and attempt to regroup.”
It could’ve been simple to level on the Clippers’ fuel tank being empty. However at each level the Pacers began to go on a run, Los Angeles answered. One started to surprise — might the Clippers pull off a comeback but once more?
With seven minutes left, Indiana had constructed a 12-point lead, because of 4 three-pointers within the fourth quarter from Duane Washington Jr.
“He got here in and had a Gabe Vincent second for these guys,” Lue stated, referring to a current sport towards the Miami Warmth through which the little-known guard made six threes within the third quarter.
But slowly the Clippers chipped away. Amir Coffey completed a layup for an and-one. Reggie Jackson slashed baseline for a hoop, then drilled back-to-back threes.
With lower than three minutes to go, Coffey had an opportunity at a layup to chop the result in one — but it surely was blocked by the Pacers’ Justin Vacation, and Indiana didn’t look again in constructing an eventual 10-point lead.
“We had a tough sport to come back out from that journey,” stated ahead Nicolas Batum, who drilled 4 three-pointers. “Tonight was powerful.”
If there was a silver lining, it was the continued emergence of Coffey, who started making threes within the first half and refused to cease to the tune of three third-quarter bombs. He completed with 27 factors and shot 9 for 14 from the sphere.
After taking part in sparingly his first two seasons, Coffey has blossomed as a lanky spot-up risk with sneaky-good imaginative and prescient who unlocks fairly a couple of lineup combos for Lue. Coffey grew to become integral within the group rising with a 4-4 report on the journey. He has averaged almost 20 factors per sport throughout his final 5 outings and probably the most minutes per sport of any Clippers participant in January.
“Guys have been out, in protocols, by accidents,” Coffey stated after the sport. “In order that’s form of the theme of the 12 months — you’ve simply acquired to be prepared.”
The Pacers had been lacking arguably their three high gamers in All-Star large man Domantas Sabonis, regular guard Malcolm Brogdon and shot-blocking middle Myles Turner, giving the loss a particular sting.
Los Angeles, which had given up 133 factors in a win over the Pacers two weeks in the past, seemed a step sluggish defensively Monday, giving up 38 first-half factors within the paint.
The absence of middle Ivica Zubac (sore proper calf) actually didn’t assist, because the Pacers’ Caris LeVert darted into the lane to loft comfortable floaters over outstretched arms. Defenders corresponding to Terance Mann had been taking part in too tight on LeVert with out a lot assist coming within the pick-and-roll units. The explosive guard discovered open lanes to the rim time and time once more to tally 14 first-half factors.
Within the second half, Lue made a key adjustment, blitzing LeVert out of the pick-and-roll performs and forcing him to be a playmaker. It labored and the Clippers constructed an eight-point lead, 80-72, late within the third quarter.
Jackson scored 21 for the Clippers, and Serge Ibaka — beginning instead of Zubac — put ahead an admirable effort with a double-double (14 factors, 11 rebounds) and two blocked photographs. However the efforts of Washington and rookie large man Isaiah Jackson, who feasted with 26 factors and 10 rebounds, had been merely an excessive amount of to deal with.
Within the phrases of Lue, it’s time for the Clippers to get dwelling.
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