LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 4, 2021

Tyronn Lue

Press Conference

Q. Luka had 33 drives to the paint on Wednesday compared to just 14 in Game 4 and 25 in Game 3. After looking at the film, do you think you guys allowed him to break the first line defense too easily?

TYRONN LUE: I thought that he really hurt us when he was in our drops with our 5. I thought he did a great job of keeping our guards on his back and he could get downhill with our 5s being in the drop. So we basically have to do a better job of taking that away tonight.

Q. Same starting lineup tonight as the last couple games?

TYRONN LUE: Yes, sir.

Q. You guys have gotten off to some poor first quarter starts in the series. What's a way for you guys to rectify that in this pivotal game?

TYRONN LUE: I think getting stops. I think making it harder on Luka at the start of the game. He's been very comfortable at the start -- except for Game 4, he's been very comfortable, so we got to do some different things with him to try and slow him down. If we can get some stops and get out early in transition and attack early.

Q. How frustrating was the other night's loss? How, as a coach, do you kind of keep that energy channeled?

TYRONN LUE: It was frustrating. We know we had an opportunity to win the game. But once PG got his fourth foul, we had to get him out, and we went down hill, had a few turnovers that led to some easy baskets in transition for them. We wasn't able to score the ball. So that hurt us. So put us behind the 8-ball, but I thought we did a good job in the fourth quarter of coming back, down 16 and having a chance to go up 1, I think, 14 seconds left in the game. So I love that part. I loved the way we competed got back in the game, but we can't have those lulls throughout the course of the game.

Q. Wondering, what did you guys do the last 24 hours and what's been the energy mood around this team with the season on the line? Does this feel similar to what entering Game 3 was like?

TYRONN LUE: Oh, yeah, a little bit, just some mistakes we have to correct. I think we need to do better job on Luka at the start of the game. He's been way too comfortable and he's getting his guys off to an early start and then that kind of fuels and gives his team confidence as well. So we got to just do a better job just coming into the game, understand it's quarter by quarter, try to win every quarter, but getting off to a good start in that first quarter.

Q. All year you guys have talked about matchups you want to exploit when you're on offense. Is making Luka work more only the defensive end something you guys have discussed?

TYRONN LUE: Yeah. We try to, they have done a good job of trying to protect him. When we get Kawhi, they double team or they fire to try to get the ball out of Kawhi's hands and we just got to make them pay. When they do that, we get open shots. Like I talked about all series, we haven't shot the ball extremely well like we're capable of doing. So we're hoping for one of those nights, but they do a good job of trying to protect Luka.

Q. Is there anything -- you played your share of elimination games, a lot you won, some you lost, is there anything you can take away as like a common, I don't know if theme is the right word, but something that you can take from every one of those and apply to today?

TYRONN LUE: Yeah, I think, like I said, just taking it quarter by quarter, looking at winning this game, I think being poised and just trusting what you've done all season. Whether it's making shots, whether it's getting to the basket, just trust what you've done all season. And we know we're on the brink of elimination, but our crew feels good, we're ready to go, and we just have to have a great start, just get off in the first quarter trying to slow Luka down as best as we can.

Q. Do you have any superstitions?

TYRONN LUE: No.

Q. None at all?

TYRONN LUE: No.

Q. Never as a player? No?

TYRONN LUE: No.

Q. Why not?

TYRONN LUE: Because, what, if you don't do the same thing over and over again you're going to be off your game? Like I don't play that mental game with myself, like just go out and play, trust the work you put in and just go from there.