The Clippers’ locker room was mostly empty and quiet Saturday night, a sense of dread appearing to envelop the team following its third consecutive loss.
After a 105-92 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder dropped them to 0-4 at the Intuit Dome — their new home in Inglewood — few players were in a mood to talk about the team’s struggles.
Norman Powell stood at his locker, however, and answered questions. He was asked about the mood of a team that has started 2-4 with star player Kawhi Leonard out because of right knee inflammation.
“What it feel like when you’re standing in here?” Powell asked the reporter.
He paused for a moment and repeated the question to the reporter: “What it feel like?”
Not very good, the reporter responded.
“It’s nasty right now,” Powell, who had 24 points, said. “We just got to figure it out. I mean, I think we are playing good 28, 32 minutes of basketball. But we just got to stay with it.”
James Harden had talked all season, but he wasn’t around when the media entered the locker room. He had another double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds, along with seven assists. But he was four for 13 from the field, two for nine from three-point range and minus-nine in his 32 minutes and 36 seconds of playing time.
Ivica Zubac was getting dressed when the media arrived, but he also left without speaking. He had nine points, 12 rebounds and also was minus-nine during his 28:24.
“Zu, I think got ran down a little bit today, a little tired and he wasn’t his usual self around the basket, finishing,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “So, that kind of hurt us.”
It was the Clippers’ fourth game in seven days, and it tested their endurance. Did fatigue play a role in the loss, especially considering that the Clippers have played games so poorly in the second half?
“I ask myself the same thing every night,” Lue said. “Is it fatigue? Can we do something different?”
But Oklahoma City didn’t let up despite playing on the second night of a back-to-back, improving to 6-0 behind 25 points from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
Nevertheless, Lue continued to encourage his team.
“Stay with it,” Lue said. “We played some tough teams. The biggest message tonight is stay the course.”
The Clippers started strong in the first quarter, building a 13-point lead. They went six for 16 from three-point range, tying a franchise record for three-point attempts in the first quarter.
But they struggled with turnovers in the second quarter, giving the ball away eight times for 11 points. For the game, the Clippers had 20 turnovers.
Lue said before the game he wanted the Clippers to take care of the basketball. The Clippers entered averaging 16.4 turnovers per game, the sixth-worst in the NBA. They failed to cut down on the turnovers against the Thunder, who led the league in steals entering Saturday, averaging 13.8 per game.
By halftime, the Thunder cut the Clippers’ lead to 57-53. The Clippers were outscored 12-2 to start the fourth quarter, falling into a 13-point hole and failing to get any closer.
“It’s a multitude of things,” Powell said. “The first thing I do is I look at myself in the mirror and see what I can do better, see how I can rally the guys, try to be vocal and encouraging, on the bench, watching the game, telling guys to shoot, telling guys to attack, play aggressive, get the ball out in transition. Hopefully we can generate some easy baskets that way.”
