Why Tyronn Lue was angry after win against LeBron James, Lakers

Kawhi Leonard and the LA Clippers fended off a late run by Luka Doncic and the Los Angeles Lakers on Thursday night to come out victorious. It was the 14th win in the last 17 games for the Clippers, but head coach Tyronn Lue entered the postgame press conference room fuming.

“It’s the same f*cking sh*t every game!” Lue could he heard murmuring. “Same sh*t every f*cking game!”

Lue sat down, took a breath, looked down at the boxscore on the table, and began to answer questions about his team’s 112-104 victory against their cross-town rivals.

“We’ve just got to do a better job of taking care of the basketball,” Tyronn Lue said after the win. “We knew they were going to junk the game up. They were down 26 points, started blitzing and firing and we prepared for it, but we just didn’t handle it good. So we got turnovers, we were up 26, LeBron’s offensive rebound leads to a three. We turned the basketball over and they scored again. And then they kind of got momentum just off of our turnovers. But our guys just staying the course and finding a way to win the game. I told them at halftime, we were up 19, but every single game has been this way since I’ve been here for six years. They’re up big, we’re up big, the other team comes back and makes a game of it. So just proud of our guys for just staying the course, staying with it.”

The Clippers erupted in the first half and took a 17-point lead at halftime behind 14 points from Kawhi Leonard, 10 points and eight assists by James Harden, and a 10-point, nine-rebound half by Ivica Zubac.

Tyronn Lue’s club then started the third quarter on a 13-4 run to take a 77-51 lead midway through the third quarter, leading most in the building to think this game may be over.

That’s when the Lakers began, “junking up the game” defensively, as Lue mentioned. The Lakers would go on to outscore the Clippers 19-7 run over the final 5:39 of the third quarter and trail by just 14. And they weren’t done.

LeBron James and the Lakers started the fourth quarter on a 19-7, outscoring them 38-14 over the two stretches and cutting the Clippers 26-point lead down to just two points at 93-91.

The Clippers were able to hold on thanks to the heroics of Jordan Miller (eight points), John Collins (seven points), Ivica Zubac (six points), and James Harden (five points). Those four players totaled 26 points and were the only Clippers players to score in the fourth quarter, helping to fend off a second-half Lakers run.

When asked what led to his frustrations as he entered the press conference room, Lue was blunt.

“Because I wanted to blow them out.”

“We turned the ball over. We talked about it halftime, being up 19 is not enough. You’ve got to come out and you’ve got to put them away. I thought down 26, they turned their pressure up defensively. Vanderbilt and Smart really played a part in that. LeBron James played the passing lanes and you already know what that looks like.”

Ty Lue was frustrated walking into the press room.

When @TomerAzarly asked why, he said, “Because I wanted to blow them out.”

— Grant "Money" Mona (@Gmona48) January 23, 2026

Interestingly enough, the Clippers turned the ball over the same nine times in the first half that they did in the second half, totaling 18 turnovers to the Lakers’ 10.

The Clippers were able to hold Luka Doncic to just 11-of-27 shooting from the field and the Lakers to just 33 percent shoot from three as a team.

Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers in scoring with 24 points to go along with five rebounds and four assists. Ivica Zubac and James Harden both finished with double-doubles — Zubac with 18 points and 19 rebounds while Harden had 18 points and 10 assists.

The Clippers will now have two days off and host the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday night before going back out on the road for three games.

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