LOS ANGELES — Tyronn Lue does get nervous.
But it’s been a while. Probably not since Floyd Mayweather was fighting, the Clippers’ coach estimates.
Otherwise, it’s purely: Pressure, what pressure?
After one of the Clippers’ narrow victories, the down-to-the-wire 111-110 thriller against the Lakers on Feb. 3, Reggie Jackson joked that he and his teammates were “just trying to find out if T-Lue has a little life.”
“Yeah, I’m always pretty calm,” acknowledged Lue, whose unflappable demeanor is both natural but also by design, meant to soothe his players’ nerves and concerns – like he did at halftime in the Clippers’ most recent 132-111 victory over the Lakers on Thursday.
“I think it gives your team confidence. I think the more irate you are and going crazy on the sidelines with the referees and the players, it just kind of rub off into the huddles and to your player. So just having those guys being as poised as possible, knowing that when the games’s on the line that we’re going to execute, we’re going to be poised, we have a chance to win the game.”
But in regard to Jackson’s question, Lue does have a pulse.
“I get more nervous when I can’t control it,” he said. “Like, when Chauncey (Billups) was playing in the 2004 NBA Finals, that’s when I was nervous. Or when Floyd Mayweather is fighting and I don’t want him to lose, I get nervous. KG when, you know, winning his first championship in Boston. When I can’t control it, that’s when I tend to get nervous. But when I’m involved and I have a chance to do something about it, I’m pretty even-keeled.”
Lue appreciated such calmness from his coaches when he played, he said, and so he strives to be that type of guy.
One mentor in particular who worked for Lue? Scott Skiles, whom he played 30 games for in Milwaukee in 2008.
“One of my favorite guys – we all know Phil (Jackson is) great and Doc (Rivers is) great – but one of my favorite guys is Scott Skiles,” Lue said. “Hard on the guys in practice, but when it came to the game, he was even-keeled – unless he got into it with a referee or an official. But for the most part, he was even-keeled, and I just loved how he held all the guys accountable one to 15. His coaching style, the way he structured practices, the way he demanded his teams to play. And he was really, really, a good coach to me.”
Lue said Tom Thibodeau, the New York Knicks’ current coach, also set a good example of accountability, along with the extraordinary work ethic required to succeed as an NBA coach.
“The biggest thing for him is just how he held everyone accountable, from KG (Kevin Garnett) down to Big Baby (Glen Davis),” Lue said. “You know he just held everyone accountable and never missed a step, if we didn’t do it right, do it over and do it again. And he wasn’t afraid to call KG or Paul (Pierce) or Ray (Allen) and those guys out when they weren’t doing the right thing. So holding guys accountable was a big thing I saw from Thibs.”
Thibs, for his part, said before tipoff Sunday at Crytpo.com Arena that he’s impressed, though not surprised by the job Lue’s done in L.A., crediting his demeanor, largely, for the success he’s had so far, leading them to their first Western Conference final last season and keeping them afloat and in the playoff race this season without their two biggest stars for the majority of the season.
“You could see it when he played, his personality, his demeanor, the way he can bring people together,” Thibodeau said. “And then he’s a student of the game, he loves, loves, loves the game. Every summer he was always around like a ton of people and people gravitate toward him.
“He got the absolute most out of his ability (as a player), he had a terrific career and then when he got right into the coaching thing it was natural and every year. And on top of all that, he’s just a great person.”