The LA Clippers got wrecked. Don’t dwell on just the one game though.
The internet understandably had a field day yesterday. The LA Clippers were down a historic 50 points to the Dallas Mavericks at halftime and ended up losing by 51. There was honestly nothing redeeming about the game unless you count the Clips’ young players getting a lot of time on the court. Remember one thing though:
It’s. Just. One. Game.
Running the Clipperholics Twitter account means I see a lot of takes from fans. 99% of the time, I absolutely love that. Yesterday was the 1%. Most of you reading this had reasonable takes, understanding the sentiment that this was a one-off and not indicative of the team as a whole. This piece isn’t necessarily for you.
This piece is for those who sent tweets saying things like “this isn’t a championship team” or “they shouldn’t have given X that contract”.
Can't wait for "OpEnInG nIgHt ChAmPs" twitter to suddenly care a lot about game three.
— Clipperholics (@ClipperholicsFS) December 27, 2020
If you are shrugging off the notion that we shouldn’t take anything from this game, maybe seeing that Ty Lue shares the sentiment will help change your mind. Here’s his quote from postgame media availability yesterday on what to do with the game tape:
"“I think you throw it away. Just get back to what has been working. Tonight, our guys didn’t have a lot of pop on either end of the floor and you could see it.”"
See? Throw it away. When coaches are looking at making corrections, they have to look at more than just one game. Sure, he probably addressed the lack of energy but Clipper Nation knows that has been an issue with teams and early afternoon games predating this roster. Slow starts are just something that happens, especially with how long NBA seasons are.
Was I happy with yesterday’s result? Of course not. Losses suck. They do happen, however, and count the same on the team’s record whether it’s by 1 or 51. Yesterday should just be a fluke. If the lack of effort and bad offense continues over several games, then we can revisit this one and analyze the trends. For now though, just move on to the next one. The LA Clippers surely have.