LOS ANGELES — Since returning from their longest and most successful trip of the season in early February, the LA Clippers haven't been the same team.
Playing on Sunday against an Atlanta Hawks team missing the injured Trae Young, the Clippers fell behind by as many as 29 points before losing 110-93 at Crypto.com Arena.
The Clippers (42-25) have lost four of their last five games and are just 8-10 since finishing their seven-game Grammy road trip 6-1 and sitting at 34-15 overall on Feb. 5 .
“For us it's between the ears,” franchise star Kawhi Leonard said. “We have to go out and do it.”
Paul George agreed when asked if the Clippers appear to be a team full of veterans who believe they can turn things around whenever they want.
“I mean this is how we look, which is not good,” George said. “We want to be a consistent team and we want to establish an identity. I have always talked about having an identity and I think it is extremely important.
“Right now, I don't think we have an identity.”
The Clippers played their best basketball in December and January, going 26-5 during a hot stretch and looking like a title contender with new acquisition James Harden.
But Ty Lue's team has been devastated. The Clippers lost Russell Westbrook (broken left hand) indefinitely on Jan. 31. On Sunday, Harden returned from a two-game absence and played with a left shoulder strain, finishing with 9 points and 9 assists but going 3-for-10.
Leonard and George have battled some injuries recently, and Norman Powell missed the loss against Atlanta with a lower left leg contusion and needed crutches.
Playing for the sixth time in nine days, the Clippers lacked energy and looked uninspired at times against Atlanta. When asked what he can do as one of the team's leaders to get the Clippers out of their current malaise, Leonard said it's all about action.
“We're just looking at what we want to do,” said Leonard, who scored 17 of his 28 points in the first quarter. “That's it. What kind of team we want to be. If everyone says they want to be one of the last teams standing, then we have to go out and do it.”
Lue said the coaching staff has repeatedly told the team what to do and the habits to practice. But the team has done it in spurts. Lu cited basketball guarding, transition defense, offensive rebounding and spacing as the four areas the team must be consistently good at every night.
“When they do it, it works,” Lue said. “When you have so much talent and you have guys who can do it so easily, they don't understand that your talent is great, but the talent should also be for the team.
“Maybe it's me. Maybe I have to do something a little different to make sure 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's like. “I've been there, I've seen it.”
