The Clippers have held it together and are in the thick of the Play-In mix as the season winds down.

LOS ANGELES — The moment called for the Clippers’ front office to address their coach.

No doubt, the subject matter involved the team’s ongoing struggles. But Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, did not talk to Clippers coach Tyronn Lue to critique his shortcomings. Instead, Frank spoke to Lue to offer positive reinforcement.

“‘You can’t focus on the now,’” Lue recalled Frank telling him. “You have to look at the long term.”

Lue told NBA.com that he found that conversation reassuring as the Clippers navigate the ups-and-downs of their 2021-22 season. Not only do the Clippers (36-39) host the Utah Jazz (45-30) on Tuesday (10 ET, TNT) fresh off a five-game losing streak, they have also dealt with other issues that partly contributed to their recent struggles.

Kawhi Leonard has remained sidelined all season after having offseason surgery to repair a partial tear in his right ACL. Upgraded to questionable for Tuesday’s game, Paul George has not played since Dec. 22 because of a torn ligament in his right elbow. And after acquiring him from the Portland Trail Blazers before the NBA trade deadline, Norman Powell played only three games before sitting for the past 18 with a broken bone in his left foot.

“I want to win. I’m a competitor,” Lue said. “But a lot of times, you have to look at the big picture. That’s one thing I had to learn from Lawrence.”

After all, the Clippers had expected to compete for their first NBA title ever since acquiring Leonard and George three years ago. Amid uncertainty on when or if Leonard, George or Powell ever return this season, however, the Clippers have adjusted their internal expectations. Nonetheless, the Clippers have still shown enough resilience to keep their postseason hopes alive.

The Clippers have a four-game lead over the New Orleans Pelicans for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference. That would ensure the Clippers only need to win one out of potentially two Play-In Tournament games to ensure a playoff spot. The Clippers have become the only NBA team in the past 25 seasons to overcome at least a 24-point deficit in three different games. And they have done so despite nursing a roster that has missed a combined 349 games due to either injuries or COVID-19.

“If we can get this team into the playoffs with what we got right here and the work these guys have put in, I think it’s a huge accomplishment,” Lue said. “It’s hard. For this young team to have no All-Star and to have a chance to make the playoffs is a huge accomplishment.”

Those around the Clippers and the rest of the NBA have expressed little surprise with these developments. The Clippers have become used to the past two seasons with both learning from failure and responding to adversity.

The failure? The Clippers squandered a 3-1 Western Conference semifinals lead to the Denver Nuggets in the 2020 NBA playoffs. That coincided with season-long continuity challenges amid overlapping injuries to Leonard, George and other role players. Afterwards, the Clippers parted ways with long-time coach Doc Rivers before promoting Lue from lead assistant to replace him.

The adversity? The Clippers advanced to the Western Conference finals last season for the first time in franchise history despite missing Leonard in Games 5 and 6 of their West semifinal series against the top-seeded Utah Jazz. The Clippers advanced that far after overcoming 2-0 deficits both against the Dallas Mavericks and Utah.

Therefore, Lue argued the Clippers’ recent history “played a big part” with how they have navigated their latest challenges.

“We’re building that foundation and culture that we can win, no matter who’s on the floor,” Lue said. “I think we’ve taken on that mentality.”

Mid-season meeting a turning point

Marcus Morris has become a trusted voice for the Clippers in coach Tyronn Lue’s locker room.

Lue observed the Clippers sharpened that mentality following some early-season hiccups.

Following George’s injury, the Clippers lost six of their next eight games. That prompted the Clippers to hold a team meeting before a walk-through for their home game against the Atlanta Hawks on Jan. 9. After Lue facilitated an open discussion about the team’s issues, Clippers veterans Marcus Morris Sr. and Reggie Jackson spoke up.

“We got talent in this room to win; it’s going to be tough,” Morris and Jackson both echoed. “We have to understand that, but there are some things we have to change and things we got to do better.”

Lue observed that meeting “helped turn our season around.” The Clippers then won six of their next 10 games, which included double-digit comeback wins over Denver, Philadelphia and Washington.

He puts us in positions to be successful as a team and positions to be successful individually. So, that’s the best coach in the world.”

— Clippers guard Reggie Jackson

“We’re just working hard, and not feeling sorry for ourselves,” Morris said. “Everyone is dealing with injuries, COVID and different lineups and other things going on. We have to continue to approach the game as winnable games. So, we go out there, play hard and give ourselves a chance.”

To give the Clippers a chance to win games, they have focused on a few areas. Lue condensed his playbook so much that he just runs “generic NBA sets” in hopes to protect his players from having information overload. He also leaned on Morris, Jackson and Nicolas Batum to have prominent voices in the locker room. Lastly,  youngsters such as Terance Mann, Luke Kennard, Amir Coffey and Ivica Zubac have expanded roles now. The Clippers’ coaching staff has further focused on player development so that they feel prepared for those responsibilities.

“I try to keep it loose and keep a positive environment, no matter what you’re going through,” Lue said. “I try to be the same person every single day. But it’s hard for me because I pride myself on being prepared and being able to pick teams apart.”

Clippers, Lue get creative together

As he experienced those internal struggles, Lue has had frequent conversations with Rivers. Despite Rivers overseeing the Clippers during six playoff appearances in seven years with his strong voice, experience and ability to handle personalities, the Clippers eventually parted ways with him following their 2020 playoff collapse partly because they believed he mismanaged rotations and adjustments.

Still, Lue has considered Rivers a valuable resource after serving as an assistant with him in Boston (2011-13) and in L.A. (2019-20). Besides, Rivers has plenty of perspective considering his coaching credentials and familiarity with some of the Clippers’ players. Rivers simply told Lue to “just keep coaching” during the team’s successes and failures.

“You got to get them to understand it’s 12 guys; it’s not just two guys or three guys,” Rivers said. “They’re NBA players and you can win games. Teams can win games during that period. I think Ty has done a great job with that. He’s really kept them afloat.”

Other coaches, including Golden State’s Steve Kerr and Toronto’s Nick Nurse, have observed the same thing. Lakers star LeBron James, who won an NBA title and made three Finals with Lue in Cleveland, argued that “as a coach, he doesn’t have a weakness.”

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue was willing to put 7-footer Ivica Zubac (40) on All-Star Luka Doncic this season.

It’s no surprise then that Lue has emerged as a Coach of the Year candidate. James and opposing NBA coaches all praised Lue for how he has inspired his team to compete as well as how he has managed his rotations and play calling. Out of both choice and necessity, Lue has overseen 24 different starting lineups.

“I don’t think you can do the same thing over and over,” Lue said. “Every day you have to prepare your team to do different things. If a team consistently beats you with something, you got to adjust. I’m not going to continue to do the same thing over and over. You have to be able to think outside of the box.”

Nothing seemed more outside-of-the-box than assigning Zubac to guard Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic, but that’s what Lue did when the Clippers played Dallas on Feb. 12.

Though Doncic had a career-high 51 points two days earlier that included step-back 3-pointers over Zubac, Lue felt that Doncic would struggle attacking the basket if Zubac guarded him as a primary defender instead of as a help defender. On the Zubac-Doncic matchup, Lue said that “for the first quarter-and-a-half, it threw [Doncic] for a loop.” Though he still finished with 45 points, Doncic did not establish a sharp rhythm until the fourth quarter when he scored 23 of his points. The Clippers won the rematch, 99-97.

“It’s not like we’re doing stuff on the fly. We go over seven, eight, nine different things that we want to do,” Lue said. “When time calls for that to happen, we know when we want to do it. Our coaches are really good at making those adjustments.”

The Clippers have said the same thing about Lue, who has evaluated his players for how hard they play as opposed to how many shots they make or miss.

“He allows us to go out there and play free,” Jackson said. “We trust everything that he does. He puts us in positions to be successful as a team and positions to be successful individually. So, that’s the best coach in the world.”

When might George, Leonard & Powell return

Of course, the biggest adjustment the Clippers would like to make would entail having George, Leonard and Powell back.

When that will happen, though, remains uncertain. George seems the soonest to return, based on him participating in his first practice since his injury last Thursday and completing a pregame warmup prior to Friday’s game against Philadelphia. Powell has completed shooting workouts, but has yet to complete any contact drills in practice. Lastly, Leonard completed a pregame warmup prior to the Clippers’ game two weeks ago in Golden State.

“When those guys are ready to come back, we’re going to welcome them with open arms,” Morris said. “Hopefully they both come back this year. But if not, we’re going to keep holding it down. We get ready to make a run and then we make sure when we get back, we make another push.”

While the Clippers have made that push, Leonard, George and Powell have become active participants from the sidelines during practices and games. During those times, the Clippers said they have encouraged the healthy players both with positive reinforcement and constructive feedback.

“They’re talking to the young guys and having the voice in the games and in practice,” Lue said. “It’s huge for the young guys just seeing them around and seeing the work they put in every day to try to work toward getting back at some point.”

Paul George (left) and Kawhi Leonard have yet to appear in a game together this season.

Should that happen, the Clippers’ playoff fortunes will presumably improve significantly. Otherwise, the Clippers pledge to maximize what they have. But even as their Play-In chances depend on what happens in the final seven games of 2021-22, Lue has tried to manage the Clippers’ resources carefully.

Aware that his team has struggled with burnout during their recent losing streak, Lue has limited minutes for Jackson, Batum and Morris. The Clippers also had last weekend off in hopes to feel recharged for this week’s slate of games against Utah (Tuesday) followed by a back-to-back in Chicago (Thursday) and Milwaukee (Friday).

“That Play-In game, we have to be ready,” Lue said. “That’s our main focus. We want to maintain a rhythm and make sure we’re playing the right style of basketball. But at the end of the day, our health is going to be most important.”

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Mark Medina is a senior writer/analyst for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on Twitter.

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