Clippers lose to Wemby-less Spurs, drop into 9th place

INGLEWOOD — Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said his team needed to approach Thursday night’s game against the San Antonio Spurs with the same mentality as any other game.

And that included their previous two matchups against the hottest team in the Western Conference.

“Our mindset is we can’t be different,” Lue said before the game. “We got to play the same way no matter who’s on the floor.”

And, in this instance, who was not.

The Clippers caught a break in their quest for a better postseason spot when Spurs MVP candidate Victor Wembanyama was ruled out because of ankle management. Or so it seemed.

While there wasn’t a 7-foot-4 obstacle blocking the lane, the Clippers still couldn’t get out of their own way and lost to the Spurs for the third time in less than a month, 118-99, at the Intuit Dome.

“They’re a good team, but Wemby’s not playing, so definitely can’t overlook that,” Lue said beforehand. “It’s got to be our mindset coming out, having a defensive mindset.”

The Clippers might not have taken Wembanyama’s absence for granted, but they didn’t take advantage of it either and now face the prospect of heading into the perilous Play-In Tournament as the No. 9 seed.

With their second straight loss, the Clippers (39-38) dropped a half-game behind the Portland Trail Blazers (40-38) in the race for eighth place in the Western Conference and a chance to avoid the 9-vs.-10 single-elimination game. The Blazers beat the New Orleans Pelicans, 118-106, on Thursday.

San Antonio (59-18) is chasing the Oklahoma City Thunder (61-16) for the top seed, sitting two games behind at No. 2 with five games left in the regular season. The Spurs have won 27 of their past 29 games.

The Clippers’ previous two games against the Spurs were both four-point losses, and they shook off a poor first half to make this one competitive until San Antonio took control for good early in the fourth quarter.

Brook Lopez said the Clippers are not being as aggressive as they had been during their recent five-game winning streak, playing the role of counterpuncher instead of landing the first blow.

“I think we just need to get back to being the aggressor, to getting out there, being the more physical team,” Lopez said. “And part of that is just the way you look at our schedule. We’ve been playing every other day for a month now. I know I feel a bit fatigued, our guys feel a bit fatigued.

“But I think that we’ve done a great job of just being resilient. We’ve kept going.”

The Clippers fell behind in the first quarter as they struggled to find the basket and trailed the hot-shooting Spurs 68-44 at halftime. The visitors led by as much as 26 early in the third quarter and appeared headed to an easy victory.

Lue said the game got away from the Clippers midway through the first quarter, which put them in a quick deficit that cost them at the end.

“They really attacked us,” he said. “They were physical going to the basket and we couldn’t withstand their attack. … I don’t even know how many paint points they had, but it just felt like they were just living in the paint and we couldn’t control their penetration.”

The Clippers, however, discovered a defensive intensity that had been missing in the first half and slowed the Spurs, while finding their offensive game in the third period. The Clippers began hitting 3-pointers, Bennedict Mathurin got to the free-throw line, Kawhi Leonard found his rhythm and suddenly they were back in the game, closing a strong quarter with a 14-4 run to get within 87-78 heading into the fourth.

Jordan Miller opened the fourth with a turnaround jump shot to cut the margin to seven points, and the Clippers could have sliced it to five but they missed a fast-break opportunity and the Spurs responded with a 23-5 run to end the threat.

“They just came in playing good basketball, making shots, playing good defense and getting out in transition,” Leonard said. “And that’s where we kind of struggled tonight with transition points, I believe, and them getting into the paint.”

Leonard finished with a team-high 24 points – his 53rd consecutive game of at least 20 points – to go with six rebounds and five assists.

Mathurin had 18 points and shot 8 for 8 from the free-throw line, while John Collins posted 15 points and six rebounds. Point guard Darius Garland had another quiet night with 11 points on 5-of-17 shooting (1 for 8 from 3-point range).

The Clippers struggled as a group from the perimeter, shooting just 5 for 26 (19.2%) from behind the arc on a night when they shot 43% from the field.

The Spurs – who shot 12 for 31 from 3-point range – capitalized on the Clippers’ poor shooting to extend a 33-25 first-quarter lead to 52-31.

Garland finally made his first 3-pointer to stop the Spurs’ run but, like his teammates, couldn’t sustain any momentum at either end of the court. The Spurs – who made 20 of their first 28 shots – shot 63.6% from the field in the first half and drained half of their 3-point attempts, while the Clippers shot just 38.8% overall and 2 for 14 from deep.

De’Aaron Fox had 22 points, eight rebounds and five assists to pace the Spurs. Stephon Castle chipped in 20 points and Dylan Harper added 19 off the bench.

Like his players, Lue said consecutive losses just “happen.”

“We got beat by two good teams. We just won five in a row before these two, so it’s going to happen,” Lue said. “The last two games were probably more disappointing than anything, just the physicality that both teams brought that we couldn’t counter.”