Clippers guard Terance Mann sat in a chair, his head in his palms, within the nook of the customer’s locker room. To his left, level guard Reggie Jackson regarded forward with a thousand-yard stare, nonetheless in his blue uniform a half-hour after the ultimate buzzer had ended an evening wherein little had gone proper.
The Clippers entered this season understanding it could take time to see their full potential as they slowly labored Kawhi Leonard and John Wall again, after their lengthy basketball layoffs, into what finally shall be common rotation roles.
Even towards these tempered expectations, they in all probability by no means anticipated to seem like they did in Tuesday’s 108-94 loss at Oklahoma Metropolis, a ragged defeat wherein they trailed by as many as 26 to a beforehand winless opponent that would not shoot.
Afterward, the Clippers didn’t bury each other. Coach Tyronn Lue faulted his group’s executions however not its effort. Jackson, after a 2-2 begin, criticized his personal play as “hurting us,” however mentioned “we don’t wish to peak till the tip of the season, anyway.” Nicolas Batum, who has seen virtually all of it in a profession spanning 15 seasons, preached perspective.
“Fan base, chill out,” he mentioned. “We all know it’s not straightforward, it’s not cool to look at a sport like that and we love the assist, however we’ll be OK.”
But the defeat delivered to the fore, solely 4 video games in, the central problem they face on this season’s early months — the best way to construct on-court chemistry whereas their rotations stay fluid as Leonard and Wall proceed to acclimate.
Leonard was held out after feeling tightness in the fitting knee he underwent surgical procedure on 16 months in the past to restore a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The Clippers additionally have been with out beginning ahead Marcus Morris Sr., who will miss a second consecutive sport towards the Thunder (1-3) on Thursday for private causes, and beginning wing Paul George, who was sick. Lue was uncertain whether or not George can be out there Thursday.
Leonard needed to play, Lue mentioned, however “we wish to be cautious, make certain we’re doing the fitting factor by him,” and that was why Leonard will return to Los Angeles on Wednesday to proceed his rehab. Lue added that Leonard “might be mad at us if he needs to,” however taking part in him can be “simply not sensible proper now.”
Stiffness sometimes means swelling within the knee, mentioned T.O. Souryal, who served because the Dallas Mavericks’ group physician for 22 years and is a former two-term president of the NBA’s affiliation of group physicians.
Nonetheless, Souryal mentioned, “it's a tad surprising to expertise stiffness at 16 months” after the operation.
What was lacking Tuesday went past the presence of the Clippers’ stars.
Their offense, already rating second worst within the NBA one week into the season, fell right into a gap for a second consecutive sport, this time 8-0. The Thunder finally shot 4 for 30 from deep, and solely 4 groups in NBA historical past have tried not less than 25 three-pointers and completed with a decrease share and nonetheless gained, in response to ESPN analysis. But the Clippers couldn’t take benefit.
“It’s going to take not less than two months to essentially get every thing in the identical groove, get set,” Batum mentioned. “That’s regular. We’ve barely had lower than three weeks of coaching camp. Solely 4 preseason video games. So we’re going to be OK once we deliver all people again and going to be prepared down the street for certain.”
They weren’t prepared Tuesday, nonetheless, after failing to heed the pregame directions that the Thunder preferred to ship 4 or 5 rebounders to the glass. The Clippers surrendered 21 offensive rebounds.
“Stuff like that simply kills you mentally,” mentioned middle Ivica Zubac, who had 10 factors, 14 rebounds and a career-high seven blocks. “You play 20 seconds of nice protection, you power them into a troublesome shot after which they simply get an offensive board.”
Regardless of Lue’s weeklong message that the group can't afford careless turnovers, there have been 19 extra that turned 23 factors for the Thunder. Oklahoma Metropolis took 27 extra pictures.
There was Zubac, unaware of the sport clock, heaving an 80-foot shot with nonetheless eight seconds to play within the second quarter, and a five-minute stretch of the third quarter when the Clippers have been outscored 21-0.
There was Norman Powell, whose taking pictures hunch continued in a three-for-10 efficiency that dropped his three-point accuracy to eight.3%.
And there was a second with seven minutes to play within the fourth quarter, the Thunder’s lead all the way down to 11 and the Clippers with the ball, when offensive miscommunication led Luke Kennard to throw up an extended shot that missed every thing, just for former Clippers guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to successfully snuff out any L.A. run as soon as and for all with a three-pointer.
“We simply can’t have the informal turnovers, the non-thinking turnovers,” Lue mentioned. “We obtained to be higher with that. I didn’t fault our effort. I believed we did some good issues. We simply obtained to proceed to maintain getting higher.
“If you find yourself shorthanded like that, the small issues imply rather a lot. If you find yourself lacking Kawhi, PG and Marcus, all of the small issues add up so we obtained to know that and return to the drafting board.”
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