Marreese Speights calls out LA Clippers' culture, lack of sacrifice
After a disappointing 115-98 loss to the Golden State Warriors, Marreese Speights called out the LA Clippers for a lack of sacrifice and said it’s time to “try something new.”
Marreese Speights sounded nothing but disgruntled after the LA Clippers‘ 115-98 loss to the Golden State Warriors at Staples Center on Wednesday night. The Clippers will rightfully be disappointed in themselves after losing the first quarter 37-19 and never being able to come back, racking up a bunch of turnovers early on and struggling to shoot just 39.6 percent for the game. They cut the lead to seven late in the second quarter, but couldn’t maintain any runs long enough or stop the Warriors’ attack to make it a close game into the second half.
It was Speights’ first game against his old team since signing in L.A. this summer. He knows how great a situation he’s left after the Warriors weren’t interested in bringing him back, and he called out the Clippers following Wednesday’s loss for their differences to the Dubs.
As Bill Oram of the Orange County Register reported, Speights didn’t pull any punches, saying members of the Clippers have to sacrifice for the team:
“First we need to start really just leaving the refs alone. Guys just got to sacrifice, do some other things than scoring, do some other things than your personal goals. Just try something new.
“They’ve been doing it here for four or five years and it hasn’t been working, so it’s time to try something new.”
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For the game, Speights had 15 points and nine rebounds in only 16 minutes.
The Clippers will likely feel as though they should have pushed harder. They’ll be disappointed that this wasn’t a win, or at the least the competitive game millions of NBA fans were expecting and hoping to see.
However, Speights accusing players of pursuing “personal goals” is a strange thing to say. That’s hardly something that was applicable to Wednesday’s game, or even the season, and while he’s right about talking to the refs, it’s not like these Clippers are putting themselves as individuals over the team. They aren’t stat hunting.
They just need to stay mentally strong and engaged more often as a team, not losing their identity in tough situations. They’re guilty of that at times and they were against the Warriors, but that’s something entirely different.
Speights mentioned this, too, adding that the scouting report for Clippers games when he was with the Warriors was to rattle the Clips and make them lose their spirit:
“That’s the scouting report when you play against the Clippers. It’s always been, especially with the Warriors, you play against the Clippers, you hit them a couple of times and their spirit is going to be down. That’s what happened, so we’ve just got to find a way to get over that hump.”
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So, yes, as you can see, Speights didn’t hold back when talking about the Clippers’ mental strength. Before saying they simply need to “get over that hump,” he made it incredibly clear that he has some real complaints.
Meanwhile, Blake Griffin didn’t like what Speights said at all. “We want to break everyone’s spirit, Griffin said. “That’s like a scouting report that says don’t let them score the ball.”
Any issues with mentality aside, Griffin is right. Every NBA team wants to break the spirit of their opponent to throw them off their game.
“Can’t keep thinking about this game,” Speights concluded. “It’s over with. They beat us. Been losing a lot lately.”
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Hopefully for the LA Clippers, this doesn’t cause any friction or chemistry issues in the team. In the heat of the moment, following a disappointing loss against the team that Speights was with just earlier this year, he’s going to be frustrated. What he said following Wednesday’s game wasn’t something teammates will want to hear, though, so the team will need to rally together with two days rest before Saturday’s game against the New Orleans Pelicans.