Lue sees something worth building on even as his team hits a rough stretch.
The Clippers fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves 94-88 on Thursday night at Intuit Dome, dropping their third straight game and falling to 27-31 on the season.
It was not the result Los Angeles wanted, but it was the kind of effort head coach Tyronn Lue believes will keep the Clippers in the mix down the stretch.
Getting Contributions From Everyone
After the game, Lue spoke about how proud he was of his players on a night where the Clippers were shorthanded without star forward Kawhi Leonard, who sat out with an ankle injury.
"Like I said, our guys they gonna play hard. To go compete and, you know, put you in a position to win the game, you know, and I thought every guy that played tonight, all 10 guys did that," Lue said. "And that's kind of been, the last three games, just be able to play hard, compete, and then at the end of the game having a chance to win the game."
That tells you everything about where the Clippers are right now.
Their last three losses have all been close, with Los Angeles falling to the Los Angeles Lakers 125-122, the Orlando Magic 111-109, and now a 37-23 Timberwolves squad that is one of the better teams in the West.
None of those were blowouts and the Clippers had a chance to win each one.
Stepping Up Without the Star
Without Leonard, who is averaging 28.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists this season, the Clippers needed others to step up.
Derrick Jones Jr. led the way with 18 points, showing the two-way ability the team needs when their best player is out.
Bennedict Mathurin chipped in 14 points and continues to look like a real pickup from Indiana, while Kris Dunn added 11 off the bench.
The Clippers held a six-point lead in the third quarter and were up 68-63 heading into the fourth, but Anthony Edwards and the Timberwolves turned it up down the stretch.
Edwards finished with 31 points and hit a step-back three with under a minute left to seal it.
Los Angeles was right there, but could not close it out.
Why the Clippers Can Still Make a Push
Looking at the bigger picture, there is real reason to believe the Clippers will stay competitive.
After a brutal 6-21 start that had everyone writing them off, Los Angeles has gone 21-10 since and played like one of the better teams in the league when healthy.
Leonard has been at an All-Star level all year, Mathurin has added a scoring punch they badly needed, and Darius Garland has not even debuted yet after coming over from Cleveland at the deadline.
The current losing streak stings, but Lue's message is simple.
This group is going to compete no matter what and put themselves in a position to win regardless of who is available.
That mindset is what turned the season around in the first place and it is what will keep the Clippers fighting for a playoff spot over the final stretch.
Los Angeles hosts the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday night.