His potential fix? More practice.
In the wake of the Clippers’ 123-107 loss to the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night at Crypto.com Arena, Lue will have plenty of justification for pushing his players in practice over the next two days.
The Clippers have struggled since the All-Star break, their defense barely to be found and their offense stagnant. They are 1-2 since the break, with both losses coming by double digits. They lost by 22 points on the road to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Thursday.
Lue said his practice sessions will have a simple theme: “Just get better.”
“We’re going to practice the next two days just to make sure we understand what we need to do on offense and what we need to do on defense and continue to keep getting better,” Lue said before Sunday’s loss. “And so we’ve had some slippage on both sides of the ball as far as what we need to do. And so we have these two practice days to get better and hopefully get back on track to the way we’ve been playing before.”
The Clippers next play Wednesday when the Lakers will be the visiting team.
Against the Kings, Lue did not have one of his stars, with Paul George out because of left knee soreness.
Norman Powell filled in for George in his first start of the season, finishing with 21 points.
The Clippers trailed by 18 points after the third quarter but managed to close to within five in the fourth before the Kings pulled away. Six Sacramento players scored in double figures, with De’Aaron Fox finishing with a game-high 33 points, six rebounds and seven assists. Domantas Sabonis had 17 points, 15 rebounds and 12 assists, and Harrison Barnes finished with 22 points.
Kawhi Leonard had 20 points, eight rebounds and four blocks for the Clippers. James Harden had 20 points and eight assists, and Ivica Zubac finished with 16 points and six rebounds.