Clippers’ comeback cannot overcome Joel Embiid, 76ers

Doc Rivers and Tyronn Lue, the longtime NBA coach and his former player-turned-protégé-turned-Clippers successor, still talk often.

Rivers characterized those conversations during the summer as “fun.” Then the season arrives.

It isn’t the frequency of their talks that changes – it’s the tone they take.

“I don’t know if we talk, or we commiserate,” Rivers said Tuesday, when his Philadelphia 76ers arrived at Crypto.com Arena to face the Clippers. “I don’t even know which one we do at times, but it feels like we do the latter more than the talk.”

Lue, for the past three seasons, has been presented with the same challenge Rivers couldn’t ultimately solve during his final Clippers season, in 2020: How do you build a cohesive championship contender without roster continuity? Just as injuries and workload-related absences limited Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the franchise’s pillars, to overlap for only 37 regular-season games during their first season, it has remained the case during their fourth. Tuesday marked only the 16^th time this season, in 46 chances, that Leonard and George have played together.

The Clippers are now 9-7 in those games, and 23-23 overall, after their comeback from down 14 points could not be sustained in a 120-110 loss to Philadelphia.

“I’ve lived that life,” Rivers said. “Now they’ve been through playoff wars [under Lue]. They at least have that, but it’s still disrupting. It’s hard, you know, it’s just so tough to… you just need games in a row.”

On this Lue and Rivers agree. One month ago, Lue said he wanted to see his team play together for a 15-game stretch to know its true potential. Before tipoff Tuesday night inside Crypto.com Arena, he said he would even take a 10-game sample size.

“I know we have a good team,” Lue said. “But as far as staying healthy, we need to establish some continuity.”

But there is no guarantee it will ever happen as the roster remains a turnstile. As soon as George returned Tuesday for his first game in 12 days because of a hamstring issue, scoring 13 points in 29 minutes, backup point guard John Wall departed for what the team estimated would be two weeks after straining an abdominal muscle in a loss Friday to Denver. Backup guard Luke Kennard, one of the NBA’s most valuable shooters, watched for a fifth consecutive game, his irritated calf encased in sweatpants again.

Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid shoots during the first half against the Clippers on Tuesday at Crypto.com Arena.

(Ashley Landis / Associated Press)

Lue expected George to show signs of rust in his return, an answer that applied for reasons beyond simply conditioning and timing. The trio including George, Leonard and new starting guard Terance Mann had played only 17 minutes together this season before Tuesday. And Tuesday’s starting lineup, which added forward Marcus Morris Sr. and center Ivica Zubac, had never played together before – even counting previous seasons.

So if it was notable George was back at all, it was also telling the way he started his night. In his last two games that preceded his absence, George took 25 shots but only four inside the paint and two at the rim. Against Philadelphia, his first shot was a jumper he swished one step in front of the free-throw line. For his second, he turned a post-up into a dunk. His fourth shot was a jumper just inside the elbow. He took 11 shots, and six were in the paint, but with Joel Embiid controlling the paint himself, scoring 20 of his 42 points there, the 76ers easily resisted the Clippers’ charge and revealed again the team’s absence of a long-term answer at backup center.

After only two first-quarter turnovers, the Clippers committed eight in the second quarter that Philadelphia turned into 13 points, and they again thwarted their own rally plans after taking an 85-81 lead with two minutes remaining in the third quarter, unable to muster a single field goal during one six-minute stretch of the final 14 minutes. Leonard scored a team-high 27 points, including 14 in the third quarter, but none in the fourth.

Just as the Clippers hope that reinforcements are coming soon, so is a remaining schedule ranked the league’s second-hardest. Starting with Wednesday’s game in Salt Lake City, the Clippers will play just two games in Los Angeles until Feb. 8. They have not been a dependable road team to this point, outscored on average while accruing a 10-12 record.

The time for complaining about their circumstances is over, Lue said before tipoff, replaced by winning games in spite of them. But as Tuesday illustrated, that will be easier said than done.