LA Clippers coach Doc Rivers said his team looked "emotionally weak" in their Game 4 loss to the Mavericks.
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00:00 The LA Clippers went into game 4 with an opportunity to take a commanding 3-1 lead in their first
00:05 round series of Dallas Mavericks.
00:07 For a while they thought they were going to do it too as the team built a 21 point lead
00:11 early in the second quarter.
00:13 Now we know there will at least be a game 6 in this series.
00:16 Dallas took control the second quarter on and when the Clippers decided to tie things
00:19 back up and send things over time, the team suffered a devastating loss at the hands of
00:23 Luka Dajic.
00:25 During his post-game media availability, Doc Rivers was critical of his teams and his own
00:29 performance saying "Honestly, I thought we were very emotionally weak tonight, to be
00:33 honest.
00:34 You can see the difference in spirits.
00:36 They make a run and everybody's excited.
00:38 They make a run on us and we cave in.
00:40 Seth on all of us.
00:41 Me too.
00:42 I've got to get our guys right."
00:43 Rivers also credited the Mavericks for being the more physical and aggressive team in the
00:46 series so far while saying the Clippers have been more passive.
00:49 Going into game 5, it's clear that a lot needs to change on LA's end if they're going to
00:52 win this series.
00:53 For starters, Reggie Jackson probably shouldn't be playing in this series and if he is, Rivers
00:58 must be cautious about who he plays alongside of him.
01:01 Before game 4, Rivers said he would try to avoid pairing Jackson with Lou Williams as
01:05 much as possible given their weaknesses on the defensive side of the floor.
01:09 However, Jackson and Williams play together for the final 10 minutes and 55 seconds of
01:13 this game, including all 5 minutes of overtime.
01:16 Moreover, Jackson, who is one of the team's worst defenders, was on Dodgers for the final
01:21 possession of the game where he hit that game-winning 3-pointer.
01:24 Additionally, Ibiza Zubac, who has been dominant in this series, was on the floor for just
01:28 21 minutes in game 4.
01:29 He's easily the team's best interior defender and is very well against Boban Marjanovic,
01:33 though Marjanovic's minutes were mostly matched by Montrezl Harrell, who is about a foot shorter
01:38 than Marjanovic and has struggled against him pretty heavily in this series.
01:42 The Clippers don't turn things around soon.
01:44 They could find themselves down 3-2 in a must-win situation to progress to the next round of
01:49 the playoffs.
01:50 LA and Dallas will take the floor for game 5 on Tuesday, August 25th at 9pm Eastern Time.
01:55 Bye.