Harden is hard to find a win after joining: the roster is deformed, the morale of the army is weak, and there is not much time left for the Clippers

Originally compiled from: The Atheltic

作者： Law Murray

原标题：Tyronn Lue expresses frustration as Clippers fall to Grizzlies, lose fifth straight game: ‘We got to be better’

The Los Angeles Clippers face a 1-8 Memphis Grizzlies at home on Sunday, the only team in the Western Conference that hasn't tasted a win in November, having lost all four games since officially taking over James Harden and PJ Tucker from the Philadelphia 76ers. After the Clippers lost 101-105 to the Grizzlies, the league's worst team, the Clippers are on a five-game losing streak, and Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue is a little frustrated with his star-studded team.

"I saw something intriguing, but... We have to do better. His team suffered a five-game losing streak early in the season, the longest losing streak since the Clippers lost nine straight games under Doc Rivers in November 2017.

"It's not a very good offensive process on the offensive end, Grizzlies head coach Tyler Jenkins has prepared his team, they're playing hard, they're cutting hard, they're working hard at what they do," Lue said. So, if you can't match their intensity on the offensive end, they're going to beat you up. "

Memphis lost to visiting Utah Jazz in a midseason tournament on Friday, and Jenkins insulted the referee after the game, resulting in a $25,000 fine for Sunday's game. During training camp, the Clippers have focused on a style of play featuring Russell Westbrook's ability to drive the tempo and find entry points in the half-court offense, and after the arrival of Harden, the Clippers have stalled, with a group of 30-somethings ball-handlers including Kawhi Leonard and Paul George struggling to find their niche.

The game took the Los Angeles Clippers to a 3-6 record.

"I think we played too slowly, we just played too slowly, we got the rebounds, the defense was successful, you had to push forward," Lu said. Once the opponent scored, we had to push forward, push quickly and attack early. You know, we can't just hang out like that... I'm sorry. No, I mean, we can't just go through the motions in attack. You've got to move on to the next move quickly. "

"If you don't do that, if you don't try to do it, you're going to get beaten every night, and we're seeing the results, so unless we're willing to work both ends of the floor, if we want to make an effort: cuts, pick-and-rolls, runs, impacting the basket, it's going to be tough every night," Lew continued. So our players have to change their mentality in that regard. Because we're teaching, we're demonstrating, we're telling them. So, now we have to put it into practice. "

Lue rarely lets his emotions get out of hand, and he rarely reprimands his team in public. Even on Sunday, Lou tried to stop himself from swearing, apologize for even a momentary loss of emotional control, avoid being overly critical of his players without balancing what he saw as fleeting signs of improvement. But Lue is also trying to get Harden to be more of himself, suggesting that he needs Harden to be more aggressive and stop thinking too much. On Sunday, the Clippers conceded the most -28 points in Harden's playing time, continuing a troubling trend when the Clippers conceded 67 points in Harden's playing time this month, also the most on the team.

Describing his conversation with Harden after Sunday's game, Lue said: "Just play, just do your own thing, and if you do too much, we'll tell you." And he's a special player. So we understand that. When you come to a new environment where you have very good players and you know, it's always difficult to get on the pitch and try to take over the game.

"So for George, kawaii and Westbrook, we've had these conversations. So we've got to make sure that we get Harden as comfortable as possible because he's going to be very important to our team and what we're trying to do. "

Since his final four games with the Brooklyn Nets in 2022, Harden has never suffered a four-game losing streak in a game he has played in. It's more about the whole team than having a particular voice in the dressing room that brings people together, he said.

After playing his worst plus/minus since his opening game against the Nets as a member of the 76ers in March 2022 on Sunday, Harden faced the camera and said, "All of us, man, we're all in this together, it's not a one-man thing. We're all working together to solve this problem. So we all have to stay positive and try to figure out how to figure it out, obviously, losing streak is tough. But we're all in this together. We all see the big picture. "

George, who scored 26 points in this defeat, is another player that Lue has had to boot, and after losing forward Robert Covington and Nicholas Batum (followed by former starter Marcus Morris and trade-in KJ Martin), he needs to be more aggressive than what George called "glue." These forwards were all traded to the 76ers in the Harden trade, and the Clippers must find the right balance between how to play and who to play.

"When you have a lot of ball handlers, a lot of people who can create chances, I think it's just because the players are used to possession, used to running around with the ball after getting rebounds and steals, whereas before, there were players who had to be able to run, they knew they had to open up space on the court and be ready to catch and shoot in transitions," George said after Sunday's loss. ”

George continued: "This is just a small issue that we are solving. But I mean, it's okay, we're not much off from the form we were in training camp and I think we've had a good start to most of the games except this one. We played well in the first quarter, and then when the rotation came in, we slipped a bit.

"Honestly, I think that's exactly where we need to improve, and when the rotation changes, we have to start here and keep the intensity and energy high. We can't wait for the opponent to get back into form. "

In this losing streak, the Clippers have now lost to the worst team in the first quarter (Los Angeles Lakers), the worst scoring team (New York Knicks), the worst steals team (Brooklyn Nets), the worst penalty scoring team (Dallas Mavericks), and now the worst team (Grizzlies). Their next chance to stop the bleeding is on the road to the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday. The Denver Nuggets are the defending champions, having lost 12 of their 14 games against the Denver Nuggets since the 2020 pandemic season, when the Clippers also led 3-1 in the Western Conference semifinals.

Tuesday's game, a nationally streamed midseason tournament, will be the Clippers' fourth game in four different time zones.

When asked what the Clippers need to do to win their first game in Denver since Christmas 2020, Leonard said, "A different year, I mean, we all have to do what we have to do to win the game of basketball — defend, limit their shots, play the fast break, execute our tactics and shoot with confidence. "