Clippers vow to take better care of basketball | College News

DENVER — A day later, the Clippers didn’t cover from the first trigger of their demise in Game 1 of their Western Conference playoff collection towards the Denver Nuggets.

Twenty turnovers doomed the Clippers and put them in a 0-1 gap within the best-of-seven collection Saturday. Four turnovers within the further 5 minutes during time beyond regulation left the Clippers proclaiming they need to do a better job taking care of the basketball in Game 2 on Monday evening at Ball Arena.

“It’s a little frustrating, just because it’s self-inflicted and it’s that we have been really good at this the last few weeks,” Clippers guard James Harden mentioned late Saturday evening after Game 1. “But [we’re] even-keeled, you know what I mean? Come back in Game 2 ready to go even better.”

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue mentioned they watched movie and his employees confirmed the group how some of the turnovers transpired. Lue mentioned 11 of their turnovers had been “unforced errors that were “uncharacteristic” of his group.

Kawhi Leonard had seven turnovers, together with one with 33.5 seconds left within the fourth quarter and the Clippers forward 96-95 and one other during time beyond regulation.

It was the turnovers within the time beyond regulation that spelled the distinction.

Norman Powell turned the ball over with 3:36 left and the rating tied at 100.

Harden turned the ball over with 2:08 left and the Clippers down 105-102.

Leonard turned the ball over with 49.3 seconds left and the Clippers down 108-104.

Nicolas Batum gave up his turnover after he took the ball out of bounds and had his move supposed for Harden tipped by Russell Westbrook off Harden’s hand with 9.1 seconds left and the Clippers down 110-107.

“The biggest thing for us was our turnovers and it was the careless turnovers,” Lue mentioned Sunday. “Like, Denver is playing, they are blitzing, they are aggressive, their physicality — so you are going to have 10 turnovers because of that. But you can’t have 20, especially on the road. So a lot of those turnovers were careless. We just got to do a better job of cleaning that up.”

The gamers owned their errors and vowed to be better within the second recreation.

“There’s not much to say,” Clippers middle Ivica Zubac mentioned Sunday. “We all know where we made mistakes. There was a lot of unforced turnovers. I mean, a lot of them were forced by them. They played really well after that first quarter. So, we all know we got to be better. We can’t turn the ball over that much, so there’s not much we can say to each other. We all know what’s at stake. We all know where we messed up, so I’m sure everyone will be better next game.”

Another drawback for the Clippers was the Nuggets’ offensive rebounding — particularly within the time beyond regulation.

The Nuggets had 4 offensive rebounds during the additional period, two apiece by Aaron Gordon and Westbrook.

The Nuggets had 12 offensive rebounds during the sport, 5 by Gordon and 4 by Westbrook.

Mentally, Lue mentioned, his group continues to be in a good space. They have room for enchancment and so they have seen the error of their methods and how they’ll clean up these points.

“Yesterday is behind us already,” Lue mentioned. “We got to move on. It was one game and we got to be better in the second game if we want to go home with the series tied up at 1-1 and we understand that. So, just being better all around the board. We know we can do some things better defensively. Offensively, we have the blueprint and we just have to execute it time and time again.”

Harden’s foul issues

To a degree, Lue mentioned, Harden was affected by his foul bother.

Harden performed 42:48. He scored 32 factors and was 11 for 22 from the sector, 4 for 9 from three-point vary and 6 for six from the free-throw line. He had seven factors within the time beyond regulation, making all three of his photographs.

But Harden completed the sport with 5 fouls, choosing up two within the first quarter, three by halftime and 4 by the center of the third quarter.

Harden, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound level guard, was assigned to defend 6-foot-8, 235-pound energy ahead Gordon, and Lue thinks that will have been half of the rationale for all of the fouls.

“You could see a few possessions where he wasn’t as aggressive,” Lue mentioned. “He kind of opened the door, opened the gate a little bit not wanting to get that foul. But we needed him on the floor. So, when he’s down under the basket wrestling with Gordon the whole game, that’s going to happen. We just got to be smart about it. Maybe mix those matchups a little bit more so he’s not on him for the whole game. But I thought he got a lot of them just trying to wrestle around with Gordon and Joker [Nikola Jokic] down on the block.”