The Clippers are in the midst of essentially the most arduous a part of their season, taking part in six video games in 9 days — a stretch that threatens to push them to their limits.
Making issues worse, accidents are proving troublesome to keep away from.
With Kawhi Leonard and Ivica Zubac out, the Clippers noticed their four-game successful streak finish in a 112-99 loss to the Chicago Bulls on the Intuit Dome on Monday evening.
The Clippers sorely missed Leonard (proper knee harm administration) and Zubac (left eye corneal abrasion) — they shot simply 39.4% from the sphere (37 for 94) and 21.4% from three-point vary (9 for 42).
“It’s frustrating when you’re playing and you’re trying to get a rhythm and they add games one night and just switch the whole schedule around, which I don’t think has ever happened to me,” stated James Harden, who had 17 factors and 10 assists. “But this is our third (game) in four (nights) already. Then, we got a day off and we got another back-to-back a day from here.
“It’s frustrating. But for us, there’s no complaining. It is what it is. But tonight we just didn’t have the right bounce, the bounce that we needed to have and it showed.”
Chicago (19-25) opened an 18-point lead within the third quarter earlier than the Clippers clawed again to inside 9 factors within the fourth. Zach LaVine ultimately put the sport away when he hit back-to-back three pointers to offer Chicago a 15-point lead with 1:24 left.
LaVine scored 11 of his game-high 35 factors within the fourth quarter because the Bulls ended their five-game shedding streak.
“I knew coming into the game that they were going to play hard,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue stated. “They were thirsty for a win. So, they came in, they attacked us. I thought defensively they did a good job by mixing the zone and man up to keep us off balanced. Offensively, we just played way too slow.”
Norman Powell led the Clippers with 27 factors and Terance Mann had 12 factors off the bench. Mo Bamba began at middle instead of Zubac, ending with 10 factors and 7 rebounds.
The Clippers (24-18) have been taking part in on back-to-back nights after defeating the Lakers on Sunday. They’ll play one other back-to-back set Wednesday and Thursday towards Boston and Washington, respectively.
“They had a back-to-back and traveled,” stated Powell concerning the Bulls, who performed Sunday at Portland. “I mean, we really don’t have an excuse. And the games we’re talking about haven’t even come up yet. So, I don’t think we have an excuse.
“I think they came out with a lot of energy. They were flying around and we came out flat. We had our moments where we made our run in the second quarter. We tried to make a run to start the fourth, but Zach made some tough shots.”
Zubac, who performed within the Clippers’ first 41 video games, will endure extra exams on his eye, Lue stated.
”…It did swell up on him final evening and it was a tricky blow,” Lue stated. “Hopefully we can get him back sooner than later.”
