The Los Angeles Clippers fell to 5-13 in this 2025-26 season following a 135-118 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers at Crypto.com Arena in the NBA Cup on Tuesday. The Clippers tasted defeat despite getting big contributions from some of their role players, and head coach Tyronn Lue stated postgame that it was down to their inability to slow down Luka Doncic.
“We couldn’t get stops,” Lue said. “I thought whatever we try to do with Luka, switch, fire, blitz, he just picked us apart. It’s just a tough cover. Just trying to mix it up, show him different looks, but he’s a great player, and he took advantage of everything we tried to do tonight.”
Doncic had 43 points (14-28 FG), nine rebounds, 13 assists, one steal, and one block against the Clippers. While that’s a terrific stat line, he appeared to be on course to have an even better one.
Doncic scored 24 points in the first quarter alone against the Clippers. The 26-year-old came into this game shooting 31.1% from beyond the arc, but connected on his first five three-pointers. He shot a couple of them from a few feet behind the line, too.
When Doncic’s outside shot is falling in that manner, there is nothing you can do as a coach. There isn’t a defender in the NBA who can effectively guard the five-time All-Star, and if you send the double, he’s just going to find the open man. The only reason he didn’t get to 50 points here is that he took a bit of a backseat as the game went on.
Doncic has given Lue plenty of headaches since he took over as head coach of the Clippers in 2020. The Slovenian has averaged 35.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 7.9 assists, 1.6 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game against them during his time at the helm. He has been efficient too, shooting 49.7% from the field and 40.1% from beyond the arc.
The Clippers and Lakers will face off three more times this season, and you’d back Doncic to dominate in each of those games.
Tyronn Lue Blames Injuries For Clippers’ Woeful Start
The Clippers are currently 13th in the Western Conference, and the situation has never been this bad during Lue’s tenure. The 48-year-old stated postgame that their struggles are due to injuries.
“We’ve had bad circumstances,” Lue said, via Joey Linn. “Guys have been out… The way we’re structured, we need our better players to play. And that’s how everybody else is successful. It’s been a tough start. Guys have been out… The problem has been when James goes off the floor, we’ve been bad offensively.
“And that’s because Kawhi missed 11 straight games,” Lue added. “Bradley Beal missed 11 straight games. When you don’t have the offensive power to keep up with other teams, it just gets tough… We’re gonna get better.”
The Clippers haven’t been good on offense this season, with their 114.3 offensive rating ranking 20th in the NBA. More concerningly, though, their 120.3 defensive rating ranks 28th.
They have now allowed their opponents to reach the 120-point mark in three of their last four games, and that is not a recipe for success. The defense might get a big better once Kawhi Leonard is fully healthy, but he is no longer the game-changer on that end of the floor that he once was.
It’s hard to see how the Clippers turn this season around at this point. Former Clipper DeMarcus Cousins thinks that Lue adopting Lakers head coach JJ Redick’s approach would help. Cousins wants him to be more of an in-your-face type of coach rather than a laid-back one, but it seems unlikely he’ll change his ways. Could it cost Lue his job? Time will tell.
The Clippers are in action next against the Memphis Grizzlies at the Intuit Dome on Friday at 10 PM ET. It will be the last group stage game in the cup for both teams, and the 2-1 Clippers will need to win by a big margin if they are to stand a chance of advancing to the knockouts.
