Clippers after Hawks loss: ‘don’t think we have an identity’،
LOS ANGELES — Since returning from their longest and most successful road trip of the season in early February, the LA Clippers haven't been the same team.
Playing against an Atlanta Hawks team without an injured Trae Young on Sunday, the Clippers fell behind by as many as 29 points before losing 110-93 at Crypto.com Arena.
The Clippers (42-25) have lost four of their last five games and are just 8-10 since finishing their seven-game Grammy road trip 6-1 and sitting at 34 -15 in total on February 5.
“It’s between the ears for us,” franchise star Kawhi Leonard said. “We have to go out and do it.”
Paul George agreed when asked if the Clippers appear to be a veteran-laden team that believes they can make things happen whenever they want.
“I mean, that’s what we seem to look like, which is not good,” George said. “We want to be a cohesive team and we want to establish an identity. I've always talked about having an identity and I think that's extremely important.
“At the moment, I don’t think we have an identity.”
The Clippers played their best basketball in December and January, going 26-5 during a hot stretch and looking every bit like a title contender with new acquisition James Harden.
But Ty Lue's team is in trouble. The Clippers lost Russell Westbrook (broken left hand) indefinitely on January 31. On Sunday, Harden returned from a two-game absence and played with a strained left shoulder, finishing with 9 points and 9 assists but shooting 3 of 10.
Leonard and George have dealt with some injuries recently, and Norman Powell missed the loss to Atlanta with a bruised left leg and was using crutches.
Playing for the sixth time in nine days, the Clippers lacked energy and sometimes seemed uninspired against Atlanta. When asked what he could do as the team's leader to lead the Clippers out of their current malaise, Leonard said it was a matter of action.
“I just see what we want to do,” said Leonard, who scored 17 of his 28 points in the first quarter. “That's it. What type of team we want to be. If everyone says they want to be one of the last teams standing, then we have to go out there and do it.”
Lue said the coaching staff repeatedly told the team what to do and what habits to practice. But the team did it in fits and starts. Lu cited basketball, transition defense, offensive rebounding and spacing as the four areas the team needs to be consistently good at every night.
“When they do it, it works,” Lue said. “When you have that much talent and you have guys who can do it so easily, they don't understand that your talent is great, but the talent also has to be for the team.
“Maybe it's me. Maybe I need to do something a little different to make sure we're doing what we're supposed to do. [But] I'll never really overreact because I know we're a good team… If you want to win, I know what that looks like. I went there, I saw it.”
