Tyronn Lue insisted that the Los Angeles Clippers will be "better for Game 6" after their worst game of the series against the Dallas Mavericks. ()
The Clippers lost 123-93 in Game 5 on Wednesday, giving the Mavericks a 3-2 series lead as they prepare for the next meeting in Dallas.
Los Angeles struggled against the Mavericks' defence, and at one point, missed 16 straight 3-point attempts.
Asked what went wrong for the Clippers on Wednesday, Lue said: "We just didn바카라t play well, all round. Offensively, defensively, we just didn바카라t play a good game. We know that.
"Playoffs, you have to win four games. We didn바카라t play our best game; we understand that and we all understand that collectively 바카라 we바카라ll be better for Game 6.
"Not making shots, not defending, had some gambles that really cost us early in the game. It was a two-point game, we gave up three gambles, and it became eight points, that got them going.
"We weren바카라t good on both sides of the basketball, we had a bad game and, to give them credit, they played well.
"We understand how we need to play. We got into our stuff a little slow. We didn바카라t shoot the ball well; we didn바카라t play well either 바카라 it kind of goes hand in hand. We didn바카라t play the style of basketball we need."
The Clippers have been in this position against the Mavericks before, going down 3-2 during the first round in 2021.
On that occasion, they won to force a Game 7 and went on to advance to the semifinals.
Shaquille O바카라Neal, however, does not think the Clippers are consistent enough to beat the Mavericks.
"They tried to play hero ball at the end by shooting those threes. Paul [George] had a surge of scoring late, but too late by then,바카라 he said to NBA on TNT Sports.
"That's why I've never really been on the Clippers bandwagon because those two guys [George and James Harden] are too inconsistent for me. You can't go from 33 to seven."
