How “soft” Clippers have gone from championship contenders to play-off uncertainty

Just seven weeks ago, the Los Angeles Clippers were the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference. Now, coaches, fans and pundits can’t fathom why they are losing games in blowout fashion and slipping in the standings.

The Clippers have lost three of their last five games. All three defeats were by 14 or more points. They’ve gone 10-12 since reaching the top of the West at 34-15 on February 6.

They can’t put all the blame on Russell Westbrook going down with a fractured left hand, as that happened almost a month later on March 1.

Los Angeles is not devoid of elite talent, and their head coach Tyronn Lue is one of the best X’s and O’s play-callers in the NBA. So what seems to be the problem?

Coach Lue believes that his team isn’t being tough enough. After their most recent 133-116 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Monday, he called them “soft.”

On February 1, ESPN NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins saw the Clippers as the toughest team in the league and put them No. 1 on his “Big Perk’s Big List Championship Contenders” rankings, showing just how far they have fallen in a short space of time.

The Clippers have regressed by almost six points in points in the paint from January to March and have come under fire for playing small-ball lineups when Ivica Zubac sits. More issues exist, though.

Clippers fans are losing faith with their team. Some hit out at their lackluster defense. Several others believe that LeBron James’ 34-point performance in the Los Angeles Lakers’ 21-point fourth quarter comeback win on February 28 “killed” the Clippers’ spirit.

They may be on to something with the latter. The Clippers have only beaten one team above .500 since their loss to the Lakers and are now at risk of being dragged into the Play-In tournament, with the seventh placed Dallas Mavericks just two games back.

The stark contrast in winning success has turned fans’ rampant support into borderline panic regarding their playoff outlook.

Additionally, the James Harden experiment has had its ebbs and flows, but even he hasn’t been able to lift L.A. as their primary playmaker. After the Pacers loss, he told reporters that the team has many issues to resolve.

“Everything. If it was just one thing, trust me we could pinpoint it, we’d put our finger on it we’d go out there and do it, and things would change. But it’s a combination of things,” Harden said about their problems.

Ultimately, the Clippers will have to gel as a unit in the final stretch of the season. They have ample weapons on both sides of the ball to make a concerted Finals run. It will boil down to how reliable they’ll be in pivotal moments, something that has haunted them in the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George era.

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