LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 24, 2021

Tyronn Lue

Press Conference

Q. What concerned you most about the results on Saturday? Was it Luka Doncic accounting for 58 points or you guys shooting 27 percent?

TYRONN LUE: Oh, both. You know, we definitely got to make shots, and we got some good shots and they shot over expected percentage-wise. The guys made shots, they made shots down the stretch. They made big plays.

But the biggest thing, we've just got to take the other guys out of the series. We can't let Hardaway have 21. Brunson can't come off the bench and have 13. We can't give Finney-Smith five threes. We know what Luka's going to do; he's got the ball in his hands a lot, so he's going to be score, but we've got to do a better job on the other guys.

Q. We know Terance Mann, this has been a big development year for him. Since the All-Star break he's 53, 44 and 85. Has that earned some time for him in this playoff series?

TYRONN LUE: We'll see.

Q. The last few weeks of the regular season, Marcus really -- he only took a few shots or so after halftime, and that kind of continued in Game 3, only took three shots after halftime. I know he didn't shoot the ball well, but did you think he could have been more active getting his shots up and giving him a chance to score?

TYRONN LUE: I thought he did a good job of getting him the basketball, letting him touch the board, being more aggressive, especially against smaller guys. That's something we have to make sure he's involved in the game and touching the ball at a frequent clip. We'll get him more involved come tomorrow.

Q. In Game 1 the Mavs had 19 points, second-chance points on 10 offensive rebounds and basically kind of scored on every single offensive rebound. What do you think kind of led to that breakdown? I know when we spoke to Zu just now he was talking about how the Clippers need to control the glass harder, but you guys actually beat them on the offensive boards, they just happened to score on almost every single one.

TYRONN LUE: Yeah, we showed clips of it yesterday to our team, just hitting bodies. Guys are flying in, we have a chance to check and we're just not hitting bodies. Melli got two of them, he kept two of them that they got back and made threes on, as well. We've just got to do a good job of just boxing out and checking. It's not like they have a big guy inside that's Andre Drummond or Dwight Howard, someone like that, so we've got to do a better job of just checking, boxing out and rebounding the basketball. But they are crashing from the corners, they're crashing from the wing, and we've got to do a better job of just hitting the bodies.

Q. A couple days ago I asked you about Hardaway. Today I wanted to ask you about Finney-Smith. Do you think you guys underestimated him in any way? He obviously had a big game the other night, and he's grown quite a bit as a player in the last few years.

TYRONN LUE: We didn't underestimate anyone. We know Luka demands a lot of attention and guys are going to get shots at times, and like I said, give them credit. He made a few big shots, especially the last one put them up 103-100. That was a huge shot for them.

Like I said, hats off to him, he made a big shot, and with Luka causing all the attention, some guys are going to get shots, and he made it. We're not overlooking him at all. We know he shoots almost 40 percent from three. He's definitely improved his shooting and he's a good player. To be able to take away something you've got to give up something, and he made a big shot.

Q. I didn't ask about the LPGA sweatshirt. Are you an LPGA fan?

TYRONN LUE: Oh, just trying to raise awareness to the African-American community, young girls, getting involved in golf. A good friend of mine, Johnny West, and his wife Michelle Wie have been talking about it so I just wanted to be a part of it and just help them out in any way I can, just to raise awareness to the young Black culture, young Black women to get involved in golf and give it a chance. That's why I'm wearing it today. Thank you very much.

Q. I also wanted to ask, you mentioned yesterday sort of the need to come out and punch first, have a good start. Besides just kind of like asking your guys to do that --

TYRONN LUE: That didn't happen. That did not happen.

But like I said, we took some challenging shots, not-so-good shots early on. It could have been nerves, it could have been a little rust from not playing for a little while, but we kind of got in a rhythm, found a rhythm a little bit. But like I said, this team puts you in some tough positions because they have a 5 and a 4 man that stretch the floor. We've got to do a better job of just attacking the paint, attacking the basket, getting downhill, making those guys commit and they're spreading it out for threes and then attacking again.

But I thought starting the game we came out and we took like three or four straight jump shots, like we never attacked the paint, and they got out in transition and they got some easy baskets, as well.

We've got to do a better job of attacking early and attacking the paint, not letting these guys off the hook.

Q. Game 1 was probably one of your slowest paced games all season, and all the Mavericks-Clippers games have been relatively slow paced, and that even considering the fact that both teams were probably in the bottom five of pace this season. How do you kind of see yourself or see the team maybe increasing the pace? Do you see that as a possible advantage, or is this the preferred way that you want the series to play out?

TYRONN LUE: No, I think you've got to get stops so we can get out in transition, but when you're taking the ball out of the basket every possession, it's hard to generate pace. We've got to get stops. They were scoring a lot at a high clip, but that being said, the game was still 100-100 with three minutes to go in the game. We've got to do a better job of scoring. As much as we talk about our defense and making mistakes we made, we've got to do a better job of scoring, attacking the basket and getting to the free-throw line and putting pressure on their defense.

Q. Just wanted to ask you, did everybody come out of Game 1 okay? Is everybody still expected to play tomorrow?

TYRONN LUE: Yes, sir.

Q. You've talked about leadership this season, especially like Kawhi and PG trying to step up and become more leaders. This is the first time they've been down 1-0 with this team. What have you seen behind the scenes from those two guys and even Rondo and these film sessions, how they've reacted from being down 1-0?

TYRONN LUE: We're in a great place even though we didn't play well. Them guys played well. Their role players came in and played well, as well.

It's 1-0. That's why you've got to play four games, win out the series. We're not discouraged. Like I said, give those guys credit. They came in, they played well, Finney-Smith made some shots, made a big shot to put them up three, and Brunson came off the bench and played well, even though he's their second leading scorer in the fourth quarter, so we've got to pay more attention to him, as well.

They played well. Hats off. We didn't play up to par, so we'll be ready to go tomorrow.

Q. It's sort of building off that actually. I remember weeks ago when there were all the moving parts with the lineup and you didn't have much time to put it together. You felt like because there were so many veterans on this team you had a lot of confidence they would be able to figure it out. Kind of now down 0-1, does having not just Kawhi and PG and Rajon with lots of playoff experience but Serge down on the line, does that give you extra confidence that there's not an overreaction from the group down 0-1?

TYRONN LUE: Oh, we're confident anyway. It doesn't matter what the series is, you've got to win four games and that's how I'm built. They won the first game. Like I said, they played well and we've got to do do it again tomorrow, but like I said, we'll play better as well. It's the first team to win four games. That's all I know.