Over the course of 10 days and six cities, the Clippers saw a few positive signs on their longest road trip of the season that could help them get through the rest of the schedule.
For starters, Kawhi Leonard returned to the court on Sunday after missing 11 games because of a sprained ankle and foot. And while his play was limited, the two-time NBA Finals MVP still contributed 20 points, three rebounds and four steals in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
James Harden proved at age 36 he can still deliver record-setting performances with his 55-point game in a victory over the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday. His franchise-record scoring effort saw him tie a career-high with 10 3-pointers, and his 17-of-26 shooting from the field helped the Clippers snap a six-game losing streak.
Center Ivica Zubac stepped up with 33 points and 18 rebounds in 33 minutes in the trip-ending loss to the Cavs on Sunday.
Then there was forward Kobe Sanders, who shed his unproven rookie tag by holding down the starting role for three games in place of injured Derrick Jones Jr., who will be out for 6-8 weeks because of a sprained right MCL he suffered during the second game of the trip in Boston.
But for all the good things that happened, the Clippers couldn’t shake the losses, the injuries, fix their porous defense (especially in transition), or their lack of cohesion on offense, troubling signs that are becoming more apparent to opponents.
“They played a little slower,” Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs told The Athletic after the Magic beat the Clippers last week. “Just knowing James Harden, that’s part of their identity: It’s playing slow, finding his matchups, finding his pick-and-rolls with (Ivica) Zubac and Zubac’s post-ups.
“But I just think that’s kind of hard to maintain when you got older guys and – no disrespect to the older guys – it’s just, the league is evolving at such a rapid pace. It’s being played so fast that it’s hard for those guys to keep up with it each and every night. Just with the demand on the body, on the energy.”
All of which left the Clippers with a 2-4 record on the trip, beating only the Dallas Mavericks and Hornets – two teams who have their own set of problems – and returned to L.A. with a 5-12 record.
“I would just say teams are faster than we are, so we’ve got to be smart,” Coach Tryonn Lue said after the Magic loss. “We’ve got to get good floor balance.
“We know teams are going to try to play like that against us. Our half-court defense is really solid, but when we’ve got to scramble in transition in trying to get back, it’s tough on us. So, we’ve just got to be better with the ball offensively and then defensively we’ve just got to get back in transition every single time.”
Things aren’t apt to improve in the immediate future. The Clippers visit the red-hot Lakers (12-4) on Tuesday night at Crypto.com Arena. The Lakers, who have gone 8-2 in their past 10 games, recently got LeBron James back after he missed the first 14 games of the season with a sciatica issue.
Then after two home games at the Intuit Dome on Friday (Memphis Grizzlies) and Saturday (Mavericks), the Clippers go back on the road for a four-game southeastern swing.
“We know what we need to do and we just have to go out there and do it,” Leonard said.
CLIPPERS AT LAKERS
When: Tuesday, 8 p.m.
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/Radio: NBC (Ch. 4), Peacock, FDSN SoCal, Spectrum Sports Net, 570 AM, 710 AM