Clippings: How the Clippers are mentally washing away Sunday’s loss

Everyone has different approaches for moving on from something upsetting.

After a surprisingly bad loss to Dallas Sunday, Ivica Zubac went with brutal honesty, saying the Clippers let the Mavericks run their sets as if it was a walkthrough. Paul George tried to accept responsibility, saying the blame lay with him as the leader of the team, particularly with Kawhi Leonard out. Head coach Ty Lue said postgame that it was the type of game where you throw out the tape, and he continued that thread of humor before practice Monday.

Perhaps the most interesting philosophical response to the team’s defeat came from Reggie Jackson. He said that he hopes the team can mentally “kind of wash this one off”, while also recognizing that there is something to be learned from every situation.

“We’re gonna watch film, try to find a way to get better, move on from this one and get ready for our next opponent, but most importantly, our biggest opponent which is ourselves each and every day,” Jackson said postgame.

“It’s life,” Jackson continued. “This game kind of emulates life and the biggest opponent in life is yourself. You gotta look at yourself in the mirror, you gotta figure out a way to be better, and that’s the goal. You’re either going forwards or you’re going backwards, so we’re just trying to take baby steps, continue to move in the right direction, bringing it together as a collective whole and hopefully as the Los Angeles Clippers, we can find a way to continue to push towards the goal that we have ultimately for ourselves.”

It’s a nice spirit to harness moving forward, that each of the players on this team is in the pursuit of self-betterment, and that collectively leads to the group moving in the right direction. It’s an idea that even transcends basketball.

Let’s face it. The Clippers aren’t as bad as they demonstrated Sunday. But there can be value in that kind of experience, and that’s what the Clippers are hoping to glean.

More news for Tuesday (some of these are a little old, still catching up on my reading from the holidays last week):

• Royce Young went over the special challenges NBA rookies face this season.
• Nick DePaula dove deep on what type of shoe deals exist in the NBA and why shoe companies were loath to give out new contracts this year.
• Zach Lowe ranked the most entertaining teams to watch in 2020-21.
• NBA teams have strict list of pre-approved restaurants they can eat at on the road that comply with COVID-19 protocols. Kevin Arnovitz tracked them down.
• Sean Highkin tried to figure out what the NBA is doing with its discipline, or lack thereof, of James Harden and the Houston Rockets.
• The Wall Street Journal listed their favorite sports moments from the strangest of years.