LOS ANGELES CLIPPERS MEDIA CONFERENCE

June 18, 2021

Tyronn Lue

Postgame Press Conference

Los Angeles Clippers 131, Utah Jazz 119.

Q. You've been so tomorrow of these spots before, have you ever heard, maybe with the exception of Game 7 in the Finals have you ever heard a crowd that got into a like the second half?

TYRONN LUE: Like I said all year, from the first two series, Dallas had all their fans, Utah had all their fans but our crowd was unbelievable tonight. Even when they got down, we fed off that positivity and we couldn't have done it without our fans. If we don't have our whole building here today rocking the way it did, it would have been a tough game for us to win.

Q. Does it feel appropriate that a kid like Terance Mann has 39 points in the game? Like maybe he doesn't feel the weight of everything that just happened here tonight.

TYRONN LUE: You know, it's been happening all year. Guys go down, guys step up and it could be anybody's night. You know, Terance Mann, we talked about it our coaching staff, just keeping the confidence shooting the basketball after Game 5. You're were 40 percent three-point shooter; they are going to leave you open, if we get to the paint, Rudy is coming, and you're going to get open shots, and for him to come in a big game like this and step up and make seven threes, I mean, it was huge for us, but having the confidence, trusting his work, I mean, it was unbelievable to see that tonight.

Q. Hopefully you can hear me. You've been in the city for a long time, a lot on the other side of this hallway, but how would you describe just the makeup of a Clipper fan in the city?

TYRONN LUE: They have been starving, starved for success. They have had a lot of good teams and just caught a lot of bad breaks. We know when Kawhi went down, probably thinking the same thing over and over again, or when TP got hurt or Blake got hurt.

Our team, I just tell you, they just don't quit. They keep fighting and competing and I think our fans see that this year. We never gave in, never pointed a finger. Never pointed the blame on someone else. We looked in the mirror and we owned it and moved on. It was a total team effort all season long, all playoffs long, different rotations, starters not playing, starters playing; Pat Beverley not playing last series and then come in this series and changed the whole series for us. It's a total team effort and we are all trying to win and our team is willing to do whatever it takes to win.

Q. What did you say to them when they were down 25 early in the third quarter? You guys have done comeback after comeback down 0-2 to 0-2. First team to ever do that to come back in two series in the postseason. When you're down 25 in the third, what did you say to them?

TYRONN LUE: Just continue to keep trusting what we have been doing all series long, all season long. I thought in the first half we took a lot of bad shots. We didn't touch the paint and we took some bad shots. At halftime we just talk about when we get into the paint, we get any shot we want. We know Rudy is coming to help and guys are going to be open all around the floor. So don't take it personal and don't take the one-on-one battle. If you can't get to the paint, swing it, slip out, let the next guy drive the basketball.

But when we get into the paint, we can get shots, and I think you saw in the second half, you know, scored 81 points and I think having -- I'm not sure how many assists in the second half, I think 19 assists in the second half but we were moving the basketball and we were just trusting what we have been doing all season.

Q. PG just said that it feels like the monkey has come off the Clippers' back a little bit. You talked about how starved this fan base is. Does it feel like maybe some of that bad luck from the past is dissipating?

TYRONN LUE: Yeah, tonight, just seeing our fans and how they stayed to the end and how they were cheering, it just felt good. It was a great feeling. You know, like I said, the team has been starving for success and the team has been doing the same thing.

To me I always look at it differently. I know the Lakers are out and there's a lot of Laker fans here. But once the Lakers are gone, if we're not playing the Lakers, you should be cheering for the Clippers because it's all in one city. I can just feel the love and I'm very happy and proud of our guys.