Clippers fail to follow Tyronn Lue’s words in loss to pacers

The message was ready from Clippers -trainer Tyronn Lue to his group: Game hard and compete.

After watching his players fight in the last three matches-Inclusive two loss-insisted hats that his players appeared at a higher level against the fast Indiana Pacers on Thursday night at the Intuit Dome.

Lue would not accept any excuses even though Clippers played short -handed due to a trade made earlier in the day.

In what became a Topsy-Turvy game, Clippers opened a 22-point lead in the second quarter, fell afterwards by 13 in the third, then gathered late before he eventually lost 119-112.

Kawhi Leonard played a season high 33 minutes and scored 11 of his 19 points in the fourth, but that wasn’t enough to save clippers from their third loss in a row.

Ivica Zubac had a double-double with 18 points and 15 rebounds, and James Harden had 22 points, nine assists and six rebounds.

But 19 revenue combined with their inability to stop the guard Tyrese Haliburton Doomed La Haliburton scored nine of his 14 points in the fourth quarter.

“Just talked to the guys today, they owned it,” Lue said, about the team’s recent matches before playing Pacers. “We need to be better around the board. It may not be from a lack of playing hard and competing. We understand that we are first a defensive-minded team. Everything else takes care of itself and we haven’t done it the last three games. So they understood what I understand it and we just have to be better. It doesn’t mean you want to win each game, but the way you lose and how to lose is something else entirely. “

Before the game, Clippers (28-23) traded fan-favorite Ternance Mann and Bones Hyland to Atlanta Hawks for Guard Bogdan Bogdanovic and three second round draft elections, according to people with knowledge of the agreement not authorized to speak in public. They also traded reserve guard Kevin Porter Jr. To Milwaukee Bucks for Marjon Beauchamp.

When asked if he could comment on the industry, Lue said, “No, Sir.”

Clippers has been one of the best defensive teams in the NBA that ranks third in allowed points (107.5), second in defensive rating (108.2) and number two in stealing (10.2).

Even with all this, Clippers knew their defense would be pushed by Pacers.

They came to La ranked 10th in the scoring (107.5), fourth in field target percentage (49.1%) and ninth in three-point shooting (36.9%).

Clippers started strong and held Pacers at 22 points on 27.6% shooting in the first quarter while scoring 42 points.

Indiana Center Myles Turner took a forearm in the face and had to be helped back to the dressing room with 6:13 back in the first. He was later excluded for a concussion evaluation.

But Pacers (29-21) kept clapping back and took a 64-61 lead at the break by outsourcing Clippers 42-19 in the second quarter.