LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 12, 2020

Marcus Morris

Press Conference

Q. Yesterday Kawhi was saying that the challenge is staying even keeled throughout the Playoffs because there's going to be wins and losses. Doing that in practice, though, what is the challenge of actually doing that after you guys come off a loss such as last night?

MARCUS MORRIS: You know, being a veteran team, we put the onus on ourselves. We had a comfortable lead, and we should have put that game away. We should have stuck to what we were doing, and that's been one of our achilles heels, just kind of messing with the game when we get up. To get to where we're trying to get to, and that's being champions, we have to be better. That has nothing to do with coaching. That's on the players. We've talked a lot that we have to be better.

Our goal is to win a championship. With good teams, once we've got them up, we've got to put them away.

Q. You were just saying that the players have kind of talked amongst themselves to be better. Was this after the game last night or today during film session, and what were guys saying to each other specifically?

MARCUS MORRIS: It wasn't like a specific thing. It was right after the game. We knew clear what it was, and I think P said it best to the media. We had that game in control. We had them right where we wanted them, and we took our foot off the gas, and I think everybody just realized that, and it was said and that was it. There wasn't no meeting or or wasn't nothing like that. We all know our capabilities, and it was one of those things where we have to keep going and sticking to the script and finishing business.

Q. Just to follow up on that, though, I'm curious, what can you credit some of the -- you guys have had big leads throughout the Playoffs and through the season, but you guys have kind of given those up. I don't really know if you can afford that in the Playoffs. What can you credit those lost leads in games? Is it lack of focus? Is it taking your foot off the pedal?

MARCUS MORRIS: I think it's just taking our foot off the pedal. At times I think we lean on our -- I think we just lean on us being as good as we are on paper and not actually just finishing the game. You know, it's only happened twice, so it's no overreaction. Sometimes it's needed, just so we can keep reiterating that as we continue to grow.

I think it's just us being as good as we are and just leaning on that, just the talent and not finishing -- playing hard or finishing our cuts, still rebounding, still defending as hard as we possibly can, things like that.

Q. Doc was saying that if the coaches had picked up all the film they wanted to go over, it would take until tomorrow to go through it all. From your eyes what was sort of the balance of negative and positive in the film today, and then what was sort of the most glaring thing to you, we can fix this right away?

MARCUS MORRIS: Just the intensity, just when we don't score a couple times, getting to our sets, going to our money plays and getting the ball in the guys' hands that we need to be, and just playing off of them. I don't think it was a big thing.

But obviously they're desperate, they're fighting. Guy hit an off-the-glass three-pointer, just no hard defense and things like that and not getting back on defense. Hey, man, kudos to them, but we know what we did and we can be better. We know we're the better team. Just continue to match the intensity. If we play desperate, you know, good riddance for them.

Q. Does it still feel weird with no crowd there and no chance of we've got to go on the road if we don't win this game, that kind of thing?

MARCUS MORRIS: Maybe a little bit, but I don't think none of us want to go to Denver, so I think we kind of feel good about that because that altitude plays a major factor in their games. At this point we've been here. I think everybody is settled in. We know that that's not going to be the case. We're just trying to take care of business. Last game they played hard. We had a comfortable lead at the end of the third, and they made some shots coming in. Kudos to them. But I think we go back and we fix it and we do what we're supposed to do.

Q. But if losing that game means you've got to go on a plane to Denver --

MARCUS MORRIS: Yeah, that would have been tough if we was in LA and had to go to Denver. I think that would have been tough. I think guys would have been more upset about that because obviously it's a tough place to play. Being as though it's playoff time, crowd would definitely be into it. But we're here now, Game 6 tomorrow, on the clock and we'll be ready.

Q. On the film tip, I know during the season way back before the pandemic started, you guys were watching film in players-only film sessions a bit. Have you guys been able to do that in the bubble at all?

MARCUS MORRIS: No, but we've been watching with Doc and we've just been speaking up. Guys have been saying their piece and what they think. He's given us the floor to be able to speak and say what we think. I think at this point there's no need for the players' thing. I think we've been playing well enough. I think it's just small lapses that we've had in games where we're getting up. We were up 20 against the Mavericks, we were up 16 against them. These are games that are within our grasp. We just touch on small parts and things are being said. We're not going to overreact.