The question back on Dec. 23, 2020, the day after the Clippers’ first victory with Tyronn Lue at the controls, had nothing to do with the small-small pick-and-rolls he’d be drawing up or those plays-after-the-play he’d been touting.
It was, fittingly, about an adjustment.
An adjustment in attitude: Do Tyronn Lue’s Clippers have the right answers to chemistry questions?
Doc Rivers had, in the hours before, been quoted saying that the Clippers he’d coached, a group stinging still from the previous year’s second-round Western Conference playoff collapse, was a team that “didn’t get along.”
He said its members were distracted by allowances made for its superstars, telling ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan: “A lot of it is true. There was special treatment, but what people don’t understand is I was the guy who didn’t like it and was fighting it.”
Lue demurred after his first win as the Clippers’ coach, promising his group would act as a team.
“When one person does great, we all do great,” Lue said when a reporter noted that many of the players on the Clippers’ bench spent much of the game on their feet, actively supporting their colleagues in that 116-109 victory over the Lakers, the first of seven consecutive over their local rivals the next two seasons.
“That’s what we want to get across, that’s our motto for the season. Like, we’re cheering each other. And when somebody does well, we want to be there, and when somebody’s doing bad, we want to be there.”
About a month later, in Miami, it started to look like that really hadn’t been lip service from Lue.
Remember Reggie Jackson calling a timeout the Clippers didn’t have with 27.5 seconds left in a game that they were leading, despite playing without All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George? That the Heat capitalized on the miscue, shrinking a six-point lead to three with 21.8 seconds left?
Remember Jackson – who’d become a playoff hero in June, helping lift the Clippers to their first Western Conference finals appearance – doubling over in anguish on that night in January? Holding his head in his hands, ripping off his headband and flinging it at the floor, cursing?
Remember Serge Ibaka pulling him into an embrace along the sideline? Marcus Morris Sr., Ivica Zubac and Terance Mann all consoling their distraught teammate?
“We talk about it all the time, that we don’t want to be a front-runner team,” Lue said the next day. “When things are going well, we are up jumping up and cheering, and when things are going bad, we aren’t splintering and going the other way – we want to be together no matter what.”
Reggie Jackson called timeout, but the Clippers has none left. Serge Ibaka and the team consoled him after the error. pic.twitter.com/TOrU9Gt8b7
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) January 29, 2021
They’re still talking about those things nearly two seasons later, after losses and wins – including Friday’s when eight Clippers suited up in the final regular-season road game and ran roughshod over the host Bucks in Milwaukee, setting franchise records in a rollocking 153-119 victory.
Robert Covington contributed to the franchise scoring record with a team record 11 3-pointers en route to a career-high 43 points.
The defensive star, in his first start as a Clipper, produced a stat line unlike any NBA player before, adding eight rebounds, three steals and two blocks, bulging numbers that inspired an awed, “Damn, RoCo, damn,” from Amir Coffey when he saw it spelled out on a printed box score postgame.
For good measure, Coffey – the Clippers’ reliable stay-ready guy whose two-way contract recently was converted to a real deal – tossed in 32 points and added seven assists and four steals Friday, all career-bests.
Without four starters and two All-Stars, the Clippers collectively shot a season-best 60.9% from the field and assisted on 34 of their 56 made buckets and ran the defending NBA champs – who were also short-handed – off their own court.
Afterward, Lue’s group touted – what else? – teamwork, togetherness. Chemistry.
“It’s not just me that did great, overall, we played for one another and that’s what it’s all about,” Covington said on Zoom. “Guys having each others’ backs and being excited the way we did. That’s what matters the most to me.”
It’s proved pretty important to Lue, too.
“It says a lot, just what this team is all about,” Lue said Friday, when the Clippers secured at least ninth place and put themselves in position to lock up eighth with a victory over New Orleans on Sunday.
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“No matter who is playing, we always think we got a chance to win … this is a big win for us. So just seeing how fun it was, how much fun guys were having. The ball was moving, the ball was hopping – 34 assists, 153 points, two guys with career highs. And everybody on the bench is happy and cheering for Amir and RoCo.
“That’s what we are all about. That’s the culture we have built here. Next-man-up mentality, but also making sure we cheer for our teammates. Even when it is not going well for you, to stand up and cheer for other guys that are playing well. That’s what we are about.”
PELICANS (34-43) at CLIPPERS (38-40)
When: 6:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Crypto.com Arena
TV/Radio: Bally Sports SoCal, NBA TV / KEIB 1150 AM
Cov going crazy
— Marcus Morris (@MookMorris2) April 2, 2022
— Nicolas Batum (@nicolas88batum) April 2, 2022
Way to stay together! pic.twitter.com/e6LWwJxgzh
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) April 2, 2022