With or with out coach Tyronn Lue patrolling the sideline, the Clippers will play one more significant recreation in opposition to one other robust Western Convention foe within the Memphis Grizzlies on Friday evening on the Intuit Dome.
They’re now the seventh seed within the West, which might put them within the play-in match. However they’re solely 3½ video games behind the fifth-seeded Grizzlies and entered Thursday one recreation behind the sixth-seeded Golden State Warriors. The Clippers (39-30) personal the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Grizzlies (2-0) and Warriors (3-0).
The Clippers additionally play Oklahoma Metropolis at residence on Sunday. The Thunder (57-12) have the perfect report within the NBA. o, the Clippers want to take a stand in these video games, understanding how necessary every win is to their possibilities of inching up within the uber-tough West and securing a playoff spot.
“All three teams that we have this week are ahead of us as far as with better records, two of them in the Western Conference. They were statement games,” guard Norman Powell mentioned. “You want to go out there and play and show that we can compete and beat these teams. This is playoff time. I think we have 12 games left. …
“So it’s all about positioning and playing your best brand of basketball. Down the stretch of games and getting ready for the playoffs, it’s always good to have the top teams that have kind of solidified their one, two, three spots in the postseason, to go and see where we’re at and see where we can improve to go out there and be the team that we need to be going down this last stretch.”
Lue has missed 4 of the final six video games due to again points, the final in opposition to Cleveland on Tuesday evening, and assistant Brian Shaw has been on the helm in his place. The Clippers say Lue’s standing for the sport in opposition to the Grizzlies is to be decided Friday.
Shaw, a former coach of the Denver Nuggets, has led the Clippers to a 3-1 report in Lue’s absence. And the wins and losses go on Lue’s ledger, Shaw reminded everybody, laughing.
Clippers assistant coach Jeff Van Gundy, who’s in command of the protection, missed the Cavaliers recreation due to a household matter. Neither he nor was at observe Thursday.
“As far as JV, we’re just praying for him and his family situation that he can get back to us as soon as possible,” Shaw mentioned. “T. Lue is still experiencing some back issues, and so the same thing with him. We just want him to get back as soon as possible. We also want him to take care of himself for whatever it takes for him to be able to get back.”
The win over the Cavaliers with Shaw in cost was one other important recreation in opposition to the staff that had the perfect report within the NBA, and it was the Clippers’ fourth win in a row and seventh in eight video games.They’re sticking to the message that it’s about what they do and never a lot about attempting to make an announcement in opposition to the highest groups.
“Yeah, it’s about our group,” Shaw mentioned. “When we’re in a position to be able to control what comes next for us, we have to take control of those situations. That’s how I’ve been approaching it, we’ve been approaching it. Not trying to make it more than what it is.
“The one thing I really saw in the Cleveland game is like the joy that everybody was playing with. So, we want to continue that. We want them to have fun, we want them to compete and I think if we compete and we have fun, we share the ball and everybody feels like they are involved. … We got a lot of contributions in a lot of different ways. So, we just want everybody to star in their role.”
The Clippers have simply sufficient time left to place themselves in the very best place within the aggressive and crowded West. And the gifted Grizzlies are subsequent in line for the Clippers.
“Memphis is going to do what they are going to do. They are going to try to impose their will on us. We have to try to do the same thing with them,” Shaw mentioned. “But like I said, it’s just mainly execute what we want to execute and worry about playing the right way and doing the right things.”
