When Chauncey Billups was poached by the Clippers team to train in Portland last summer, he inherited quite a few problems, from an unhappy superstar to last season’s second worst defense.
His first few months on the job brought progress . The star, Damian Lillard, has since said he’s not leaving the only franchise he’s played for. And early return suggests the defense is still a work in progress. Instead, Billups faced a completely different problem in his third game as coach on Monday – one that he had helped to create.
Last season he and his assistant Roy Rogers were on a Clippers team, whose defensive strategy, Lillard tirelessly catching helped a player voted into one of the NBA’s top 75 of all time, shooting 17%, including just 7% on three-pointers, in two games – five baskets total. It was Lillard’s lowest offensive score against an opponent last season.
And this is where the « game of chess » began, as Billups called it before the tip against the Clippers at the Staples Center.
He wasn’t just trying to get Lillard down free by drilling holes in a Clippers defense he knew so well. He was trying to outsmart a best friend who knew Billups likes, dislikes, and potential opponents like no other – because he had helped build Billups’ coaching foundation. In the early days of the pandemic, Clippers coach Tyronn Lue spent six weeks at the Billups Colorado home giving the former point guard a crash course in coaching.
Monday was her first coaching matchup. Lue admitted that preparing for a coach who, like Billups, knew his insides was « different » and compared it to his first game coaching against his own mentor and friend Doc Rivers.
-114 loss of the Clippers to the Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday at the Staples Center.
« I kind of know how he sees the game, » said Billups before the notice. The Clippers “did a very good job with Dame last season. So obviously I know that, obviously I’ve been watching this and you’re trying to find a way to counter it. Let’s see what happens. «
What happened was another problem for Billups, another brutal offensive game for Lillard, and a win that is the Clippers’ first this season, a 116-86 round that was so thorough was that the reserves played for most of the fourth quarter.
On a night when the Clippers weren’t quite on the same page early on, with nine turnovers and Paul George and Ivica Zubac sometimes debating where each one was had to be – and while Marcus Morris Sr.’s pesky left knee – they made Portland look a lot worse.
The Clippers’ 21 steals were the most since 1991. Lue attributed to Nicolas Batum, who started in place of Morris, wreaked havoc early on George’s eight steals were a career high.
Her 37 assists were the most since 2015, and « we should have 50, » said Lue, lamenting more misses after 47% shots, including just 32% from depth .
And Portland’s 30 turnover was up most by a Clippers opponent since 1996. It looked less like chess than a one-sided checkers game.
Guard Luke Kennard scored 23 points on the bench and made six of seven threes. George’s 16 points were 16 shots and Reggie Jackson’s 20 points required 20 shots.
« We’re still not shooting the ball as well as we can, but when our defense works like we did tonight we will be able to fire and catch up, « said Lue.
Lillard made four of 15 shots but missed all eight threesomes and ended with 12 points. He had as many ball losses (four) as free throws. A baseline jumper was blocked by Justise Winslow. A dump-off pass was intercepted in the first game of the second half. The more worrying problem for Portland was that it couldn’t be explained as a one-off night of anger against an opponent who now has a track record of making the glowing star look shaky – not if Lillard only got two of 24 threesomes and 19 of 50 shots in total over three games for Portland (1-2).
« We just try to flash him and get the ball out of his hands as far as possible, » said Lue. “It can get hot at any time. We know that; the whole world knows that. «
The starters of the Clippers were outdone by the starters of Ja Morant and Memphis in a 120-114 defeat in their home opener on Saturday night.
But it wasn’t even the defensive of the Clippers versus Lillard, who increased their lead to 14 after a quarter and caused a blowout that left the Staples Center half empty for the final minutes. The Clippers unrolled a 16-1 run and held Portland for almost five minutes without a field goal to end the first quarter with Lillard mostly on the bench. It was a preview of what was to come.
It was no surprise that the run took place in the first quarter with a line-up of the Clippers with reserve center Isaiah Hartenstein and the guards Terance Mann and Kennard. The trio had outdone their opponents by 13 points in two games in 14 minutes. They remain the spark plugs of this team and bring the rest of the unit to life. Lue noted that their conditioning is ahead of its starters and helps the reserves to play together and « know who they are » so early this season.
Billups spent much of the second half sitting down with his team fell back by as much as 35. Lue will quickly see what kind of reaction his friend can get from his new team. The Clippers will be back to Portland on Friday.
Andrew Greif is the beat writer for The Clippers for the Los Angeles Times. He joined The Times after reporting on college football and sports companies for the Oregonian. A graduate of the University of Oregon, he grew up on the Oregon Coast.
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