“We want to be a team that’s consistent and we want to establish an identity,” Paul George said. “I’ve always spoken about having an identity and I think it’s extremely important. Right now, I don’t think we have an identity.”
The Clippers have dropped four of their last five games and are 8-10 since peaking at 34-15 on February 5. Russell Westbrook has been sidelined since the end of January with a broken left hand, and Norman Powell is dealing with a lower left leg contusion that had him on crutches Sunday night.
Tyronn Lue said the coaching staff continues to emphasize positive habits, such as protecting the ball, getting back on transition, hitting the offensive boards and spacing the court. However, the effort to do those things hasn’t been consistent.
“When they do it, it works,” Lue said. “When you have so much talent and you have guys that can do it so easily, they don’t understand that your talent is great, but the talent’s got to be for the team as well. Maybe it’s me. Maybe I got to do something a little different to make sure that we’re doing what we’re supposed to do. … [But] I’ll never really overreact because I know we’re a good team … If you want to win, I know what it looks like. I’ve been there, I’ve seen it.”
There’s more from the Pacific Division:
Norman Powell left Friday’s game against New Orleans on crutches and won’t play due tonight due to a left leg contusion. Terance Mann limped into the locker room during the first half on Friday but is in the starting lineup. Russell Westbrook is still out with a fractured left hand.
James Harden was listed as questionable but will play despite with a strained left shoulder. Paul George and Kawhi Leonard are also showing signs of wear after a rugged stretch of the schedule.
We have more on the Los Angeles teams:
However, Leonard traveled with the Clippers to Chicago and is listed as questionable for Thursday’s game, tweets Youngmisuk, so it doesn’t appear the issue is significant.
Here’s more from around the Pacific:
They’ll play at the brand new Frontwave Arena for the 2024/25 season. The NBA Clippers will also have new digs next season, as they’re on track to move into the $2 billion Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
It’s a sort of homecoming for the Clippers organization, as the NBA team played in San Diego from 1978-84. Their current G League franchise, named the Ontario Clippers, will complete its season in Ontario, Calif. The NBAGL club was previously named the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario.
Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank will continue to oversee basketball operations for both teams.
“We are proud to re-introduce the San Diego Clippers into this passionate sports market,” Halo Sports and Entertainment CEO Gillian Zucker. “Our G League team is a critical part of our business and basketball operation, and we are thrilled to be relocating to the new Frontwave Arena next season.”
]]>“I felt it at times out there,” Davis said. “I still kind of feel it.”
McMenamin notes that the seven steals were a career high for Davis, and the 25 rebounds fell one short of his career-best mark. He has played a huge role in the Lakers’ recent surge, which has them six games over .500 and within two games of sixth place.
“I think we’re hitting our stride right now,” Davis said. “We’re just trying to keep going, keep pushing, knowing that just like last year, all we got to do is get in. We feel like it’s tough for anybody to beat us in a seven-game series. … We like our chances against anybody at that point.”
There’s more from Los Angeles:
Westbrook suffered his broken right hand on Friday in a game against Washington. According to Wojnarowski, he’s now starting rehabilitation so he can be back before the postseason starts in April.
Westbrook, 35, has been one of the league’s top bench players after accepting the role change earlier this season. He’s averaging 11.1 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 58 games.
Bones Hyland took over for Westbrook after he went down and played the backup point guard spot in L.A.’s win over the Timberwolves on Sunday.
It has been a roller coaster season for Hyland, who admitted the season was “challenging” and was sent home before the All-Star break. He’s averaging 5.7 points and 2.0 assists this season.
]]>“It’s been a long time,” Hyland said, “but honestly I’m just ready to keep contributing to the team, build up these wins and carry this momentum into the thing that we all want to do.”
Carr points out that Hyland averaged 26.2 minutes and 13.6 points in the season’s first five games. But he became a forgotten man after the James Harden trade was completed, logging 34 DNPs since November 10 and being listed as inactive five times. He admits it has been “challenging” and credits Westbrook for providing encouragement while he waited for playing time.
“Russ has been a great leader to me, man, since I came here, even before I got here,” Hyland said. “He’s always been that guy I can go talk to. … In this whole process, he told me to stay down, stay hungry, stay in the gym, just keep being myself and it’ll come back around full circle.”
There’s more from Los Angeles:
Head coach Tyronn Lue told reporters after the game that he’s not yet sure whether Westbrook will require surgery or how much time he might miss (Twitter link via Youngmisuk).
The 2016/17 league MVP, Westbrook has made nine All-NBA teams over the course of his 16-year career. After the Clips traded for James Harden, Westbrook has primarily come off the bench in 2023/24, averaging 11.1 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 4.5 APG and 1.1 SPG on .451/.268/.672 shooting in 57 games (22.8 MPG).
Unfortunately, Westbrook is the second noteworthy player to suffer a fractured left hand tonight, joining Raptors forward Scottie Barnes.
While Westbrook, 35, is clearly no longer in his prime, he’s still a terrific rebounder for a guard who can get in the paint and make plays. Earlier in the season, he talked about being keyed in defensively.
Before the Harden trade, Bones Hyland was the team’s backup point guard, and now that Westbrook is injured, he’ll likely receive some rotation minutes.
Westbrook holds a $4MM player option for ’24/25.
]]>“They still are optimistic that they can get him back,” Wojnarowski said. “I think there’s some hope that they can get him back on the court by sometime in late March, back starting to get into condition. The goal here isn’t necessarily to try to bring him back and see how many regular season games you might be able to win with him. The goal is to get him as healthy as he can be for the postseason.”
When the Sixers announced Embiid’s procedure on February 6, they said he would be reevaluated in four weeks. As Wojnarowski notes, that means we’re still about a week away from the team providing a more official update on the reigning MVP’s progress and possible timeline.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
The rebranding comes after outside consultants were hired to conduct fan surveys, according to Zach Lowe of ESPN. Team officials considered everything, including a possible name change, but that didn’t poll well, with sources describing the reaction to Lowe as “outright hostility.”
“The focus groups are advisory, not definitive,” owner Steve Ballmer said. “But I still listen to them, and I have heard, partially to my surprise, that there is no interest in a name change. I had thought about [the name] years ago, before I got the team, but we heard similar reactions back then.”
The Clippers will replace their current logo, which has been described as bland, with a large “C” that has a ship inside it, a nod to the clipper ships of San Diego that inspired the team’s name when it moved to that city in 1978. The global version of the logo contains the words “Los Angeles Clippers” surrounding the ship in a circle.
The court display released by the team features the logo in the center with “Inuit Dome” printed in blue on both sides of it. The N in “Angeles” extends through the center court stripe to create a compass effect. The painted area is dark blue, with red semicircles above the foul line, and longitude and latitude coordinates for the new building are listed along the sidelines. Other home court designs will be released later, sources tell Lowe.
The Clippers also unveiled white and blue versions of their new uniforms, which feature the logo on the shorts and a new font for the team name. A red statement edition has “Los Angeles” on the front and “Clips” on the waistband of the shorts. Three nautical flags line the sides of the red jersey.
The team won’t have a black version of its jersey next season, with Gillian Zucker, president of business operations for the Clippers and Intuit Dome, telling Lowe, “We kept hearing from people that black was overdone.”
The Clippers are also excited about their new secondary logos, one of which is a version of “LA” with a smaller A perched on the bottom line of a larger L.
“It will make for a phenomenal hat,” Zucker said. “In 20 years, people will look back and this will be iconic for the Clippers.”
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