Multiple factors led to the Clippers’ fade-away loss to the Bucks.
There were plenty of factors that played into Clippers’ late-game fade Sunday, when they were scoreless for the final 4:01 of a 105-100 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks at Fiserv Forum.
Count the Clippers’ failure to push the pace among their issues Sunday a sign, Kawhi Leonard said, of their asyet not-fully-formed-familiarity with Tyronn Lue’s crunchtime plot.
There also was Giannis Antetokounmpo, who simply overwhelmed the Clippers with 17 points and three blocks in the final period.
But then there was also the fact that the Clippers didn’t shoot a single free throw in the fourth quarter, when Milwaukee made 7 of 11 of their foul shots — more than the Clippers took all game.
L.A. went 6 for 7 from the free-throw line Sunday. Although that’s the fewest the Clippers have attempted this season (by four), it wasn’t such a severe departure for a team that ranks 25th in the NBA in free-throw attempts, averaging just 19.9 per game— and just 17.6 times per game in the games they’ve lost.
Sunday’s defeat marked the fifth time they’ve finished with fewer than 15 attempts from the foul line.
It stands to figure that the Clippers — whose 84% free-throw shooting percentage is the best in the NBA — would benefit from more visits to the charity stripe.
So why aren’t they making more trips?
Leonard suggested that the Clippers’ number of attempts will grow if they continue to be attack the paint — forays that he said should come not just from he and Paul George, who are leading the team with 6.3 and 4.0 attempts per game (averages that are off of their career highs of 7 or more).
“I feel like a lot of times we come down, it’s one pass, shot, or we’re just shooting off the pick and roll,” Leonard said. “We have good ball movement. I think we’re attacking that paint, me and PG, and then it’s shots going up. “But we’ll get better.”
George said he thinks he and his teammates are attacking plenty, but that the calls just aren’t following.
“That’s more of a league question than our team question,” George said. “I think we do enough. I think we put enough pressure. We get contact. Nineteen (fouls) to 11 today — I think we did enough to get some calls our way.”
Zubac’s A for effort
If Lue had it to do again, he said he’d probably go back to Ivica Zubac down the stretch in an attempt to deter Antetokounmpo, who was so gleefully taking the Clippers’ lunch money.
No, not all of his run-ins with the Bucks’ superstar ended well for Zubac — who now has the distinction of having been posterized on his own posterization attempt, issued a steely denial by Antetokounmpo. The Greek superstar met the Clippers’ 7-foot Croatian center — who came charging in with a full head of steam — at the rim, and stopped him cold with about eight minutes to play.
Nonetheless, Lue was happy with Zubac’s effort, and with the pluck he showed in defending the two-time NBA MVP, who went 4 for 9 from the field while Zubac defended, per nba.com/ stats.
“I thought Zu did the best job on him,” Lue said of his reserve center, who finished with two points, two rebounds, three fouls and was plus-3 in the box score after logging just 16 minutes, his fewest in seven games.
“He was physical, he took the bump to the chest, he met Giannis at the basket and I thought he was really good for us,” Lue added. “Probably should have went to him down the stretch a little bit more, but he really took the one-on-one challenge and did a good job on him.”