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Clippers vs. 76ers Game Recap: Struggles Continue
The LA Clippers worrisome habits continued as they fell at home, 121-107 against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Summary
When Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue took his seat the podium for his postgame media availability, he couldn’t help but express his frustration.
The Clippers had just suffered another disappointing loss at home, this time against the short-handed Sixers, and Lue was left searching for answers.
“They’re grown men and they understand we’re a veteran team. It’s not like we’re playing with second and third year players,” Lue said. “I’m never the type of guy that wants to show a player up or show them that they’re making a mistake, I’d rather not do that. . .but they understand what the f**k. . I mean they understand what they’re supposed to be doing. . .we just got to do better.”
Sunday matinee games have never been kind to the Clippers in recent seasons, and it’s one of the key reasons why they’re anticipating the move next season to Intuit Dome where they won’t be competing for time slots against other teams.
But even so, with a tightening playoff picture in the Western Conference, and the New Orleans Pelicans breathing down their necks for the fourth seed, the Clippers have let key opportunities slip away.
This time, it was against a Sixers team that was missing Joel Embiid, Kyle Lowry, Nicolas Batum, De’Anthony Melton and Robert Covington. The Clippers found themselves down 41-29 at the end of the first quarter.
They trailed by as many as 17 before using a 16-0 run to get back into the game. They managed to tie it up at 70 in the third quarter before the Sixers surged ahead by double digits once again, This time, the Clippers energy was spent coming back initially and they had nothing left in the tank.
“It’s embarrassing when you lose to a team like this. It’s not saying they don’t have great players over there, and Nick Nurse is a great coach but you come in minus Joel Embiid, Nico sits out tonight, RoCo is out, Kyle Lowry is out. . .you’ve got to take advantage of those type of things, type of games,” Lue said. “It is frustrating, showing the same thing over and over and not getting the results you want consistently. . .you keep talking about it but at some point you got to do it, so that’s it, that’s all I got to say.”
Clippers vs. 76ers Game Recap: Struggles Continue
David Yapkowitz