INGLEWOOD — The Clippers gave themselves 10 games to figure out how to play with each other. Eighteen days to nail down rotations, improve their transition defense and win games.
But that time has run out. Coach Tyronn Lue said the team needs to kick it in gear now, not tomorrow, not next week. Now, as in today.
Or perhaps Wednesday when they play again.
Riding a four-game losing streak, the Clippers gave off a sense of urgency at the start of Monday night’s game, but they couldn’t keep up the intensity despite a heroic effort from James Harden down the stretch and lost to the Atlanta Hawks, 105-102, at the Intuit Dome.
The gravity of the situation was clear and Harden, who finished with a 35-point triple-double, seemed determined not to let the team sink further into an early-season hole.
He was fouled while making a 3-point shot with 25 seconds left and made the free throw to pull the Clippers (3-7) to within 105-102 with 25 seconds left, but he then missed a seemingly rushed game-tying 3-point attempt from well behind the top of the arc with 12 seconds left.
Still down three with the final seconds ticking down, he leaned in for a floater, hoping to draw a foul, but the shot fell short. His last-ditch pass to Nicolas Batum in the corner glanced off the Frenchman’s hands and the Hawks then ran out the clock.
The pace of the game ground to a halt in the second half, as the Clippers returned to their slow play, allowing Atlanta to keep a slight edge. The Hawks stretched their lead to 89-79 with a 10-3 run early in the fourth quarter.
Then Harden came alive, scoring 19 of his points on 6-of-10 shooting (4 for 7 from 3-point range) in the final quarter, but not even posting his 81st career triple-double (10 rebounds, 11 assists) could push the Clippers to their first victory since Halloween.
“Our attention to detail has got to be a little bit better, knowing what we’re trying to accomplish on both ends of the court is part of the game,” Harden said. “Playing hard is one thing. I think everybody plays hard or tries to play hard, but I think the difference between really good teams and teams that aren’t really good is just the detail-execution part and that hasn’t been our strong suit.
“We just got to find ways to continue to get better at that.”
And until that happens the season is going to continue on this track, center Ivica Zubac said.
“We’ve got to score more. We got to rebound the ball. We got to get back in transition. Those are starters,” said Zubac, who had 13 points and 12 rebounds. “We keep saying that year after year that we got to be better in those aspects if we want to win games. It’s hard to win games if you’re giving up so many transition points and second-chance points.”
The Clippers’ defense, especially in transition, has fallen considerably compared to last season. Last year, they were rated as high as No. 3; this year they are 26th. The Hawks scored 20 points on fast-break opportunities, compared to the Clippers’ four points.
Derrick Jones Jr. and Kris Dunn each scored 11 points for the Clippers, who were without star Kawhi Leonard (ankle) for a fourth consecutive game. Bradley Beal (hip) was also ruled out.
“We just keep doing the same mistakes every single game and it’s not like it is going to magically change if we get Kawhi and Brad back in the next game,” Zubac said. “We got to do the little stuff. We got to dominate defensive rebounding. We got to dominate the defensive transition. We got to communicate out there.”
The laundry list of fixes continued with Zubac pointing out the Clippers failing to set up their spacing.
“We got to know our place. We can’t mess all that up,” he said. “Our spacing is not right and we can’t even get out in transition because we’re not getting defensive stops. We’re giving up second shots. It’s hard to get in transition. We can’t even run.
“So, there’s a lot of that stuff that we got to change no matter if we get them back tomorrow or whenever. We still got to change that stuff.”
To change things up, Lue tinkered with the lineup on Monday, starting 6-foot-9 forward John Collins, to give the team a spark. It worked, too. The Clippers had an early 12-2 run and maintained defensive pressure on the injury-depleted Hawks for a 10-point lead at the end of the first quarter.
The Hawks didn’t roll over, though. Despite playing without Nickeil Alexander-Walker (low back), Nikola Đurišić (elbow) and Trae Young (knee), they got back into the game in the second quarter as guard Vit Krejci buried three consecutive 3-pointers to pull Atlanta to within 39-33 with 6:03 left in the first half.
His fourth 3-pointer two minutes later against the Clippers’ porous perimeter defense, later gave the Hawks their first lead at 42-41, erasing a 17-point deficit. Krejci, who shot 8 for 10 from 3-point range for the night, scored 17 of his career-high 28 points in the first half.
The score was tied at 52-all at halftime.
“I feel like we’re closer and closer to turning that corner,” Zubac said. “It’s not going to get easier. We got Denver at home, and some road games. We’re just going to have to be tough, and we just gotta stick together, keep working, keep getting better and it’s going to change. It’s going to change.”
Kristaps Porzingis added 20 points for the Hawks, and Jalen Johnson had 16 points and 10 rebounds as the Hawks Atlanta erased a 17-point deficit to win consecutive games for the second time this season.