LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 12, 2021

Tyronn Lue

Press Conference

Q. You said it several times. The phrase has been coined, it's a make-or-miss league. Is that kind of how you viewed these first two games much in the same way as last series?

TYRONN LUE: We've got to make shots offensively. We're getting some great looks. I think Kawhi and PG are doing a great job of taking advantage of Rudy Gobert's helps and they're making the right play and the right pass. So we got to step up and make shots for sure.

But on other side of the basketball we got to do a better job with Donovan Mitchell and Jordan Clarkson. We got to slow those guys down. We got it take the defensive challenge one-on-one, and then we got to be ready to help him. We need to help him fire and try to get the ball out of their hands.

It starts with our one-on-one defense because even when we get the ball out of Jordan's hands or Donovan's hands when they swing the basketball, other guys are beating us on closeouts as well. So we got to do a better job of containing the basketball, but we got to make some shots as well to try to keep Rudy out of the paint as much as possible.

Q. On that note, what do you think you're getting so far in this series from Kawhi and PG and to what extent do you feel like you need even more?

TYRONN LUE: They're doing a good job just taking advantage of what they can get. I think Rudy is doing a great job of helping no matter who is on the floor, big or small, and they're making the right pass. So other guys have to make shots, and when they do that, it's going to open it up a little bit more for us. So we know when Favors comes in the game we want to try to attack downhill and get to the rim. With Rudy in the paint we want to take advantage of him being there and making three-point shots.

So just taking what the defense gives us. They got to be a little bit more aggressive, I think offensive to score the basketball of getting to their spots, but we also got to make shots when we make the right play and the right pass.

Q. This series started with a logistical disadvantage for your team. Obviously you had a, last time you were here it was a Game 7, and Utah had those days off. In your experience, how long do you think that it takes for that rest advantage to kind of dissipate over the course of a series and how have you kind of allowed your team to kind of get the rest needed while staying prepared at the same time?

TYRONN LUE: There's not a lot of rest when you're playing every other day but we just got to understand what we're trying to do, take care of the basketball for one, attack, make Rudy get out of the paint as much as possible. But I think the biggest thing for us going forward, we just have to take the one-on-one challenge with Donovan Mitchell, just try to make it tough, bringing them physicality, and we can do that, and we know we played on the road in a tough environment and we got a chance to win both games and we didn't play extremely well. So we're not, our confidence has not wavered. We're not shaken. We just got to come out and play well tonight. I know we will.

Q. You actually just mentioned it right there with the physicality, but before Game 2 you mentioned how you wanted to be more physical, particularly with your screen setting. Did you feel after watching the tape of Game 2 that y'all met that or it can still get better?

TYRONN LUE: We did better, but of course, they come back and said Zu's two was not offensive fouls that they called in the game, which it doesn't help us now. So I like the screens that Zu was setting. They called two offensive fouls, and they came back and said it wasn't when it went through the NBA. So we just got to keep being physical because they're just trying to do a good job of running through our screens, so we got to bring a physicality with screening and hitting their bodies.

Q. I wanted to ask you about Marcus. You know Marcus so well. Obviously, he's shot so well all season. When he's like in a slump in the playoffs, do you talk to a guy like that or just stay out of his way?

TYRONN LUE: I talk to him. I talk to him. Tell him, Make a damn shot, you know? (Laughing) but just step up, be confident, take a shot. Don't hesitate. We know he does have really a quick release but just take your shots. I don't care if you make one or miss them, but you're the second best three-point shooter in the league all season long. Don't think about it. Don't let it get to you mentally. Just shoot the basketball. And we know he will, like he did in Game 7 of the biggest moment you can possibly be in the playoffs. So he'll be ready to go tonight.

Q. Wondering if you have talked to Serge since his surgery and what does it mean to have him out for the rest of the season?

TYRONN LUE: It's tough. I talked to him and just checked on him, just said prayers and get well, get healthy. And he said, I'm feeling good, Coach, just go out and get this win. That was for Game 2.

But it's just tough when you lose a guy who came in as a starter and he's been in and out all season trying to play through the injury and it just didn't work out for him. So you hate to see that happen, so hopefully he can come back strong next year.

Q. You mentioned post-game in Game 2 that the guys need to do a better job taking on that challenge playing on the defensive side of the ball. Why has that been an issue this series or why has that been so challenging for your team?

TYRONN LUE: It was challenging the first series as well with Luka. But I think with Donovan he's a little bit more shifty. He's faster. He can get to where he wants to get on the floor. So when we're trying to fire and double-team, he's split our blitz a couple times, he's jiggled around our blitz. We try to fire to get the ball out of his hands, he went the other way. So he's faster and it's hard to try to blitz him and corral him, so we just got to do a better job of taking the challenge one-on-one first, keeping him in front, and then when we decide to go fire and try and get the ball out of his hands, it will be a lot better for us.

But just be into his body. He's playing too free. We might be scared of his speed a little bit, but we got to be able to get into his body, bring the physicality, and try to direct him to go where we want him to go instead of him just doing whatever he wants.

Q. There was a stat posted earlier that in the first three minute of each half you guys have been outscored 42-9 in Games 1 and 2. Why has been getting off to a strong start been -- well even an average start -- been so difficult and I guess how do you really change that tonight?

TYRONN LUE: I think the biggest thing is defensively we haven't gotten stops, so we're not able to get out in transition and get easy and early baskets. That's been the biggest thing that I've seen. Teams are scoring at a high rate and a high clip to start the quarter. So we got to do a better job defensively getting some stops early, so we can get out and get some easy baskets in transition.

Q. The Jazz made an inordinate amount of shots the other night. Does that, how do you deal with that as a coach? Do you make adjustments, do you say we're staying the course, because that can't happen again, what's your approach on something like that?

TYRONN LUE: We got to make a few judgments. Not that drastic. We talked about the physicality, we talked about taking a defense challenge one-on-one. But they did shoot the basketball I think an NBA all-time off the dribble threes. And so if they're going to make them, then we got to do a better job of trying to taking that away as well. So they made shots, we didn't make shots, we didn't shoot as good as we need to and that we can do, so, like I say, we didn't play extremely well, particularly well on the road and we had a chance to win both of those games. So coming home, I think we got to make some shots and then we'll be more aggressive and bring a physicality to the game.