Ty Lue And Paul George Insist The Clippers Aren’t Concerned About Being Down 2-0 To Dallas

On Tuesday night, the two Los Angeles NBA teams found themselves in a similar position down 0-1 in their series and needing a win to even things up after a sub-par performance in their opener. The Lakers were looking to steal homecourt and did so behind sensational performances from their three best players, as LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Dennis Schröder all stepped up in a major way to lead L.A. to a win in Phoenix.

In Los Angeles, the Clippers had just been torched by Luka Doncic in a Game 1 loss and a similar response was needed, but where the Lakers were able to close things out late in the fourth, the Clippers, after making a run to cut the Dallas lead to as few as four in the fourth quarter, could never get over the hump. Now, the Clippers are tasked with heading on the road for the first time in the series, facing an 0-2 deficit, and if there were ever a time for some desperation it would be now.

However, both coach Ty Lue and star Paul George insisted after the game that they aren’t concerned about losing their first two games at home.

On one hand, I understand the desire to not look panicked, but there had better be at least a little concern and a lot of desperation on the part of the Clippers come Friday night in Dallas. This is what most anyone would consider a “must-win” as going down 3-0 is something no team has ever come back from in the NBA and only three teams have even managed to force a Game 7 after being down 3-0.

For Lue, his focus has been on outlier shooting from the Mavs, who have hit exactly 50 percent of their threes thus far in the series, and while that’s certainly likely to come down, it’s not as though they’re hitting a ton of contested shots aside from Doncic, who is more than capable of doing that. Typically, teams shoot better at home than on the road, although in these playoffs that hasn’t been the case through the first weekend, so saying “well now they have to keep up this shooting in the arena they’re most comfortable in” is an objectively funny statement. He’s not totally wrong, the Mavs do have to keep being a good shooting team to beat the Clippers, but they’re also just knocking down a lot of open, in-rhythm shots. L.A. has to figure out how to disrupt some of these shooters, but they can’t do that until they figure out what the hell to do with Doncic, who has kicked them in the teeth repeatedly and left the Clippers with no answers.

As for George, he even says if they don’t win they’re cooked and then tries to say there’s no concern. There should probably be a little bit more of a sense of urgency for a team knowing they’re done with another loss. It speaks to the Clippers weird obsession with trying to look cool and in control at all times.

They need to be concerned with their position because that feeling of being backed into a corner is what sometimes helps bring out your best. Believing Dallas is going to stop making open shots isn’t a strategy as much as it is a hope, and they need to be more assertive in trying to take control of this series rather than passively hoping the series just swings back in their direction. What are you going to do to make sure they miss some shots? How are you going to influence that with your effort and intensity on defense to have better closeouts and send better doubles at Doncic so he can’t pick you apart? Those are the questions L.A. needs to be asking and answering rather than, “When are they just going to miss shots?”

There has been no doubt through two games who the aggressor has been, and while these comments are certainly an effort at appearing calm, it also represents part of the problem for L.A., which is that they need to show more of the aggression and urgency the Mavs have to this point.