LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 15, 2020

Lou Williams

Postgame Press Conference

Denver Nuggets 104, LA Clippers 89

Q. How much do you think the lack of continuity throughout the season impacted the team? Denver has been together for years; how did you feel about a Clipper team that was tough getting continuity through the whole regular season and then obviously through the playoffs?

LOU WILLIAMS: Yeah, we knew that. We understood this was going to take some time. I think a lot of the issues that we ran into, talent bailed us out; chemistry it didn't. In this series, it failed us. We know this is our first year together. We are a highly talented group and we came up short.

Chemistry is something that you've got to build. You build it over time. I thought we were moving in the right direction at the end of the year before the COVID thing happened and coming in after the break. You know, you take another -- you take some time off and then you try to get it back and then you've kind of got a shotgun season. We just had so many different things, you know.

Continuity is very important, so we'll be right back.

Q. Doc just mentioned that he felt like multiple guys missing guys outside the bubble really affected the continuity and conditioning. At one point you had six or seven guys out. How much of that was a factor? He said guys were tired in Game 7 and asking to come out and stuff like that?

LOU WILLIAMS: Yeah, we were just trying to play as hard as we could. I don't know if it was an in-shape thing. At this point, we've been here, you know, over two months. We had an opportunity to get ourselves in a position to be in shape.

I know I played harder today than I've had in the past on both ends of the floor and just trying to get things happen, and so you don't know. You can pinpoint a lot of things. The fact is, we came up short and we've got to live with it. We'll take our lick and keep moving.

Q. Looking back on the season coming in with title expectations, how will you view the season and what did you think of your first season with Paul and Kawhi?

LOU WILLIAMS: We came up short. You know, we came up short. Just briefly we had a conversation already amongst guys that we've got a quick turnaround. We understand this is going to be a quick off-season and let's get back to work and continue to build.

You know, we did have championship expectations. We had the talent to do it. I don't think we had the chemistry to do it and it showed. We had lapses on defense and offense where I think guys that played in systems where they were expected guys to be in certain spots offensively, a lot of different guys made adjustments. You know, it showed.

But at the end of the day, we were up 3-1 and we had two opportunities to win games. We were up 20 points and we should have closed this deal out and we didn't. So you give credit to Denver for continuing to play. And like I said, we take our lumps and we keep moving.

Q. You mentioned you had a quick conversation, what do you guys do from here? Where do you go in the next few weeks?

LOU WILLIAMS: Take a break. Take a break. You know, this bubble is taxing. I'm sure you've heard that from other guys that's left already. It's taxing. It was a complete compromise. I haven't seen my two daughters in 68 days. I know the exact amount of time that I haven't seen them, and so when you deal with that type of stuff and just being in a controlled environment, you think that you're safe, but you know, it can be taxing on you, and so things happen.

So we'll leave here, take a break, get an opportunity to just digress, get outside of ourselves and just relax and then get back to work.

Q. On Media Day there was talk but getting to the gym and building the chemistry. COVID and the bubble were unusual but what kept the chemistry from being able to reach its potential this year?

LOU WILLIAMS: You've got a lot of parts. You go from last year, we were the team that wasn't expected to make the playoffs to going and being a championship-calibre team when you bring in two high-level guys. That's an adjustment. Trezl and I we had to adjust our games. I think everybody had to sacrifice and put themselves in a different position and that type of thing takes time, especially when you're doing it for years at a time.

For Kawhi, he just won a championship with a completely different group of guys, to come here. Pat was -- Paul was in a different situation. There was so many different moving parts.

So just working out in the gym, it doesn't happen. It takes time. So you know, we've got to deal with that. We've got to live with it and move on.

Q. I'm just curious, how does this serve as a motivating factor heading into next season, knowing that the expectations for the season were really high and you guys failed to meet them?

LOU WILLIAMS: Yeah, we're pissed off. Simple and plain. We're pissed off. We were up 3-1. We had two opportunities to win this series and we didn't. We didn't close it out. So we're pissed off. We look forward to the opportunity to get back on the floor together.

Q. Is it more pissed off at yourselves?

LOU WILLIAMS: You could say that, of course. But you got to give credit them credit, as well. I mean, Jamal Murray, these last two series, he's played out of his mind. You give aguy credit. He put that team on his back. Jokic put that team on his back and those guys put themselves in a position to win.