LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

May 25, 2021

Tyronn Lue

Press Conference

Q. Is it the same starting lineup as it was in Game 1?

TYRONN LUE: Yes.

Q. Prior to Game 1 you said you really liked the idea of the four-man bench unit alongside either PG or Kawhi. From watching the film, how would you assess how that group played together and will we see more of them tonight?

TYRONN LUE: I thought they did a decent job. But I can't give you everything, so we'll see tonight (laughing).

Q. There's been a number of players already looked into for protocol violations and all that. Curious, does that make you any more wary? Does that, do you have to shoot reminders to your players here and there to, Hey, stick to what you're supposed to be doing kind of thing?

TYRONN LUE: Yeah, I mean, like we have all year, just trying to be solid, doing our best to try to follow protocol because we know it's important. And this stage of the season you can't have any letdowns like that, so we want to make sure we're doing the best we can to try to avoid any kind of situations.

Q. You probably have been asked variations of this, but with Luka, when he's hitting those step-back J's and all that, is it hard not to overreact or is that something you have to sort of react to when he's hitting those step-back J's and those type shots?

TYRONN LUE: As a player, it's hard not to react to because he's making those shots, but he's going to make tough shots. He's going to make that shot over Zu, over Kawhi, over whoever, because it's a tough shot. But at the end of the day just got to tell our team and let our team know, you know, Luka had I think 42, 9-9 in the first game we played them last year, but they lost. So he's going to score the basketball. He has the ball in his hands 90 percent of the time, so he's going to score. He's going to make plays, he's going to make tough shots and that's what great players do and we can't let that deflate us.

Q. I've got a broad question here about mental health and wellness. How would you compare what the mental toll has been like with this season compared to the bubble and what are some of the things you do to try to navigate those challenges?

TYRONN LUE: I think the biggest thing is you're able to be home with your family. Guys are able to be home with their family and their kids and enjoy that. It was tough not being able to go out the first part of the season at all, but I think guys did a great job of adjusting. At least you're not away from your family and friends. You can be around your loved ones. So I think that was a big help for our guys this year as well as across the league, just hearing guys talk.

Q. Wondering, did you guys notice like the extra few thousand fans in the stadium the other night and do you have any concerns that like Dallas having 15-, 16,000 fans there might be sort of an advantage that you guys don't have?

TYRONN LUE: Yeah, we definitely noticed our fans and they were great. I wish we could have won that game for them. But they came out and supported. I thought they were very loud. And Dallas, they're going to have 15-, 16,000, but that shouldn't deter us what we're trying to do and what we're going to accomplish. So it is what it is.

Q. You hinted at Kawhi potentially spending more time on Luka in this game. Nick Nurse talked a lot about in the playoffs situations how he and Kawhi would have sort of a dialogue within games of, like, How many more minutes do you need resting before you start again, can you spend X amount of minutes guarding this guy. Do you and Kawhi have that sort of same dialogue within games where you're sort of discussing matchups and minutes and load managing within a game?

TYRONN LUE: We kind of do it before the game, not during the game as much. But we definitely do talk about the game plan and what we want to do. Last game, Pat Bev started off on him and he had two fouls in the first four minutes, and then Kawhi went right to him. But the way we were playing our coverage you can pretty much seek out who you want because a lot of switching going on nowadays. So we'll see, give them a little different look tonight and see how that goes. But I'll never want to get my best player an early foul or early foul trouble also, whatever. But I thought we'll have Pat Bev get into him, try to frustrate him and he did a good job of taking advantage of Pat's size in the post, so after the first four minutes we were able to switch Kawhi onto him.

Q. You mentioned throughout the last 48 or 72 hours or so how you wanted to get Paul George more involved early, Marcus Morris more involved, and like obviously that's a big part of the offense has been moving the ball and making everybody feel like they have got a part of what's going on, but that seems like a lot of responsibilities on you. Like how do you kind of balance what your planning to do with letting the players kind of dictate how it's going to go anyway?

TYRONN LUE: I think with Marcus, when he got the bloody nose and had to come out of the game it messed up his flow and kind of the rotation kind of how we wanted to play. So he came out pretty early. But outside of that, just letting the game come to you, but there are plays we can call to get guys touches and make sure they're touching the basketball. And PG was great. He got some shots early on that he didn't make that we know he can and Marcus just I don't think ever really got into a great offensive rhythm. He had some late shot clock shots that were situations where he had to force them up, so we got to get him more of a rhythm. But I'm fine with PG because he's got the ball in his hands a lot, he's going to be able to make plays and take advantage of what they're trying to do.

Q. I got a question kind of unrelated to this game today. With the anniversary of George Floyd's murder, would you share your thoughts on the impact of the National Basketball Social Justice Coalition and their influence they have had on the society and the supporting the police reform or policy reform?

TYRONN LUE: Yeah, it's been great. I think Adam Silver has done a terrific job. I think our players and coaches have done great job as well at just raising awareness, getting it out there and letting people see and understand. And things that we're trying to do, we're trying to move forward and the NBA has done a great job and it started last year in the bubble and it's carried on. It hasn't been forgotten, guys are still talking about it, the NBA is still supportive and trying to raise awareness in any way they can.

Q. Are we going to see more action from your bench in this game?

TYRONN LUE: Just got to see how the flow of the game goes. You never know. Every game's different, every situation's different so we'll see what happens when the game gets going, when the game starts.

Q. I wanted to know, what would you say are the keys to success to winning this game as well as the series?

TYRONN LUE: Aggressive mindset on both sides of the basketball. Not being passive defensively, getting to these guys being physical, I think offensively attacking the rim, attack the paint, being aggressive and getting downhill. I know it's enticing because you have some open threes or late contested threes, but they're 29th in the league in rim protection, so we got to make sure we drive the ball, attack these guys and put some pressure on the rim.