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Clippers focusing on better starts on the road to the playoffs

April 4, 2026

INGLEWOOD — The Clippers have pulled themselves from the abyss, a 15-game deficit at the start of the season, to reach the postseason.

More importantly, with five regular-season games remaining, they have a chance of potentially securing 15th consecutive winning season. And at 39-38 heading into Sunday’s game against the Sacramento Kings, the Clippers would need to win at least three games to reach that goal.

That’s not a given considering the Clippers lost to the last-place Kings on March 14 and the Portland Trail Blazers, whom they see again April 10, on Tuesday. They also have the Oklahoma City Thunder, the best team in the NBA, awaiting April 8.

But Kawhi Leonard, who has been instrumental in getting the Clippers this far, didn’t mince words about the Clippers’ herculean effort this season that still has them scrambling for a higher seed. After losing to the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday, they are No. 9 behind the Trail Blazers (40-38).

“Do whatever to keep the record going or the consistency would be great,” he said Thursday. “I don’t think nobody is gonna be popping champagne just because we’re 42-40.”

Coach Tyronn Lue agreed, saying the team’s mindset is to make the playoffs and worry about celebrating later.

“I know being over .500 is great, but like Kawhi said, we have more at hand than just being 42-40 or whatever it may be,” Lue said after practice Saturday. “We got to try to make the playoffs, get into the playoffs and then go from there.”

To get there, Lue said the Clippers need to be more aggressive and avoid slow starts that have led to opponents jumping out to double-digit leads. In their past two games, the team fell into sizable deficits and couldn’t make stops, which resulted in consecutive blowouts.

“I think before when we won five in a row and we still didn’t play great. We kind of eased into the games,” Lue said.

“We’ve got to change that narrative. We got to come out in that first quarter, have a defensive mindset and be physical. We got to be the ones initiating the contact, and we haven’t done that the last three or four games.

“We got to be better at starting games. We understand that, we talk about that.”

John Collins understands what Lue is saying and how important it is to come out swinging.

“Just coming out to a slow start has been the biggest thing, sort of our Achilles heel a lot of the year,” the forward said. “We’re starting by putting ourselves in a hole and it’s hard to come back against teams when you give yourself a deficit and it has cost us.”

RARE PRACTICE DAY

For the first time in more than a month, the Clippers had two days off where they could incorporate a practice session. For Darius Garland, it was his first chance to participate in a practice and get reps in and a closer look at the team’s game plans.

“It was good,” said Garland, who has played 15 games with the Clippers since being acquired from Cleveland in the James Harden trade on Feb. 3. “Got some reps in, got some stuff that we want to do offensively, defensively in, so hopefully that could be some good adjustments.”

Garland started his Clippers career impressively, averaging 20.5 points and shooting 47.5% from 3-point range with 6.5 assists. But his shooting fell off the past two games, especially from long distance. He missed five 3-pointers in the loss to Portland and 7 of 8 against the San Antonio Spurs.

The two-time All-Star point guard downplayed the notion teams were guarding him differently, saying he just needs to “keep working on it. Stay confident and keep being aggressive.”

Lue said the coaches need to help Garland by giving him options to get off the ball.

“He does a great job getting into the paint, creating lanes, pushing the pace … but a lot of off-ball movement, getting stops and getting in transition would help,” Lue said

Clippers at Sacramento

When: 6 p.m. Sunday

Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento

TV/radio: FDSN SoCal, KTLA (Ch. 5)/AM 570

Orange County Register

News Details

Clippers focusing on better starts on the road to the playoffs

RARE PRACTICE DAY

Clippers at Sacramento

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