Not much. But a play executed perfectly, like one down the stretch in Monday’s win in Portland, might do it.
It’s personal policy that Tyronn Lue stay cool on the sideline. So much so that when the Clippers coach was asked Friday about his evident displeasure after a fruitless and particularly irksome sequence late in their victory over the Lakers, he balked, emotional about having been perceived as emotional: “I looked frustrated? Damn.” That strategic stoicism cracked again late in Monday’s 102-90 victory in Portland. With just a couple of minutes remaining and the game in the balance, he saw the Clippers running one of his plays to perfection and exalted, pumping his fists on the sideline before the sequence was even finished developing. The result was an unguarded dunk for Isaiah Hartenstein, a 97-88 lead and, then, something of a standing ovation for Lue. His players were kvelling about the sequence after the game and, on Twitter, the play – technically, the plays – were re-posted by several impressed basketball aficionados. In a nutshell: The Clippers (13-12) ran the same set on consecutive possessions, Lue’s first chess move setting up checkmate the next time down. The first time they ran it, Hartenstein screened for All-Star Paul George near the free-throw line and then, once Reggie Jackson delivered the pass to the Clippers’ star, everyone drifted away to give him room to work.
