For the Clippers, the 2024-25 season has finally taken a turn in the right direction. The team has won six out of its past seven games, and has moved to 38-30 on the year, which ranks eighth in the Western Conference but puts them just one game out of the No. 6 seed, currently held by the Warriors. 

But just as the Clippers are facing one of their greatest challenges, a game against the 56-11 Cavaliers–the best team in the NBA and the team that current Clippers coach Ty Lue led to a championship in 2016–there is bad news. 

Lue’s back issues, which have been problematic of late, flared up again and the team announced he will have to miss the game. 

 LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue 

Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

As Janis Carr of the Orange County Register wrote on Twitter/X, “Ty Lue will not be coaching tonight. The pain in his back flared up. Jeff Van Gundy also won’t be on the bench because of a family medical issue.”

Lue had missed the Clippers’ game against the Kings on March 9 with the back problem. Brian Shaw, who also filled in for Lue against Sacramento, is coaching against the Cavaliers in his place. 

Shaw was asked in the pregame about the importance of playing the Cavaliers amid the Clippers’ current hot run.

“You don’t want to get everybody too anxious,” Shaw said. “So you want to kinda treat it like another game. But we’ve got a good thing going, got on a nice little streak. We know how good they are. … It should get your juices flowing a little bit more and hopefully that happens for us tonight.”