Rowan Kavner
LOS ANGELES – It could be a lack of energy. It could be a faltering defense, which leads to a struggling offense. It could be a simple lack of execution.
It could be all of it.
Frustration mounts as the Clippers dropped to 2-7 in their last nine games and 6-7 overall following a 4-0 start, and they’re left searching for answers to the problems after looking like two different teams in the first and second halves Sunday against the Raptors.
“I think if we had pinpointed it, it would be solved,” said Blake Griffin. “We need to find that, whether it is playing harder, whether it is having a sense of urgency, whatever the case may be.”
Doc Rivers and Chris Paul both tried to point the finger their direction as culprits for the recent rut. Rivers said the coaches need to put the players in a better spot to perform, and that if they’re not playing hard enough, it’s on him.
“I’m not proud of anybody right now, including me,” Rivers said. “We’re a game below .500. We start out 4-0. We’ve just not played well.”
Paul blamed himself for the slow start and the lack of energy Sunday. He said he started picking up the ball more and getting more engaged defensively in the second half, and it paid dividends.
“It starts with me,” Paul said. “I think I was the biggest minus on the court tonight. Defensively, we’ve got to have better starts. For us to play like that in the second half, no reason we should be down 29 at the half.”
Griffin, however, knows no one person is responsible as the Clippers try to mend their issues.
He said it falls on everyone, namely the leaders on the team, and now it’s about “sitting down and being real and understanding the real problems.”
Seeing what the Clippers were able to accomplish in the second half, outscoring the Raptors by 18 points after getting outscored by 29 in the first half, almost makes the situation more frustrating and confusing to figure out for him.
“A little bit harder to explain,” Griffin said. “We’re going to have bad offensive games. We’re going to have games where open shots aren’t going in. That’s what happened in the first half tonight. When that happens, we have to play better defense. Your defense has to go up a level.”
That happened Sunday, but not until the second half.
Griffin said the Clippers can’t wait until they’re trailing to turn it on. Rivers said there weren’t any major changes defensively in the second half, so now the Clippers have to figure out why the issues on that end were numerous early and vanished late.
Many of the Clippers believe effort and energy are involved, even if execution also plays a role.
“It’s good that we did play harder and we did get back in the game somewhat, but it’s not good that it’s all we said and it worked,” Griffin said.
As frustration builds, words can end up getting exchanged, but Griffin said in his six years in the NBA every team he’s played for has aired things out. In fact, Griffin said it’s the better teams he’s been on where more arguments and confrontations occur, because it shows players aren’t scared to speak up.
The Clippers have dealt with new lineups. They’ve dealt with injuries, already playing six different lineups in 13 games. They’ve dealt with funks on defense, which have led to empty possessions on offense.
In the end, they’ve allowed at least 100 points in six straight games, and the NBA’s most efficient offense from last season has now scored 91 points or fewer in back-to-back games.
Redick said the Clippers knew it would be a process to start the year. The tough part, Paul said, is they know they’re a better team than what they’ve shown.
“We’ve got to get more consistent,” Paul said. “We put together these great 10-minute stretches or 16, 18-minute stretches. We haven’t put together a full game, 48 minutes.”
The answers aren’t all abundantly clear, which Redick said can happen immediately after a team gets in a rut. As the Clippers try to get out of one, the one thing that’s clear is there’s only one way to limit the frustration.
“Sometimes, it takes one game,” Redick said. “I do think the end result will dictate our approach and our attitude and our mood and all that stuff going forward. If we win a game, that’ll certainly help move things in the right direction.”
