It’ll be Next Man Up on this three-game road swing for the Clippers, who’ll be without Patrick Beverley starting Sunday in New Orleans, the team announced Saturday. He’ll also miss games Monday and Wednesday in Dallas, according to a league source.

Beverley left Thursday’s victory against Golden State with right knee soreness and didn’t return. The starting guard missed eight consecutive games – in which they went 4-4 – earlier this season with right knee soreness.

The all-world defensive pest also is an integral part of the Clippers’ offense; this season, he’s shooting a career-best 44.2% from the field, including 42% from 3-point range, also a career-best measure.

The starting lineup of Beverley, Kawhi Leonard, Paul George, Serge Ibaka and Nicolas Batum is plus-16.7 points per 100 possessions, better than all but one NBA five-man unit that’s played at least 200 minutes together. (Portland’s Damian Lillard, Robert Covington, Enes Kanter, Derrick Jones Jr. and Gary Trent Jr. have an 18.0 net rating together.)

The Clippers will miss Beverley’s contributions, though the 6-foot-1 guard’s spirit looms large, teammates said, whether he’s on the floor or not.

“Pat is always with us, even if he’s not available for the game or (if) he gotta miss some games,” center Ivica Zubac said Friday. “He’s always talking with us. Even if he’s not on the trip, he’s texting guys, he’s calling guys, he’s sending scouting reports.”

And there’s an understanding that when he is away, the hyper-competitive Chicago native is doing all he can to get back.

“I have faith in him,” Kawhi Leonard said. “He’s going to be watching the games, seeing what schemes we’re doing to start the game. It’s just about keeping your mind in the game when you’re just off the floor hurt or injured, and he’s a guy that does that, so I have confidence in just coming in and stepping right in and playing whenever the time is ready for him.”

ON PACE

Steve Kerr meant it as a compliment when he, more or less, called the Clippers plodding.

Actually, Golden State’s coach used the word “meticulous” to describe L.A.’s pace, which ranks 24th in the NBA at 98.51 (the number of possessions a team uses per game).

“They have developed a pretty good identity in terms of being relatively meticulous, not pushing the pace but getting the game to their tempo to take advantage of their great halfcourt personnel,” Kerr said before the Clippers thumped his team 130-104 on Thursday.

And why wouldn’t they?

“With Paul George and Kawhi,” Kerr said, “you’ve got two of the toughest guys in the world to guard one on one.”

Yet Clippers Coach Tyronn Lue talks constantly about wanting his team to play with pace.

“Not, you know, just coming down, jacking up shots, but getting the ball up the floor in a timely fashion, sprinting the ball up the floor, getting into our sets,” Lue said in January, noting that data at the time indicated the Clippers were the league’s top team offensively “by a longshot” when they shot between six and 18 seconds into a possession, but 26th in the league when they fired with fewer than six seconds on the shot clock.

Reggie Jackson’s ability to pick up the tempo is one of Lue’s favorite things about his contributions this season. The coach also has applauded Lou Williams for the same thing on occasion.

But Lue thinks the Clippers – who, by the way, boast the NBA’s third-best offensive rating, producing 116.8 points per 100 possessions – will benefit if everyone makes it more of a point to hop to.

“Pace, to me, is like when guys are taking quick shots in transition,” Lue said Friday, as the Clippers prepared for Sunday’s game against New Orleans (whose pace is 99.25).

Though, yes, to Kerr’s point, Lue wants the Clippers to be meticulous in their attack.

“I want them to get up and take the best available shot,” Lue said. “We don’t want to just come up and just forcing and jacking shots because our pace is slow.”

A telling indicator: free throws. The Clippers’ 20.1 free-throw attempts per game also rank 24th in the league, something Lue doesn’t attribute to slights by officials.

“When we are getting to the free-throw line, (it) means we are attacking the basket,” Lue said. “And if we are attacking the basket, we are getting to the free-throw line or getting open 3s.”

The more open 3s, the better for a team whose 42% 3-point shooting percentage is the second-best on record for a season, behind only the 1996-97 Charlotte Hornets, who hit 42.8% percent of their 3s. That team, however, took just 16.9 3-point shots a game, 17.7 fewer than this season’s Clippers, who’ve been both meticulous and money so far.

CLIPPERS (25-14) at PELICANS (16-22)

When: 6 p.m. Sunday

Where: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans

TV: Fox Sports Prime Ticket, ESPN

Nice to see Patrick Beverly back on the floor tonight!@LAClippers | @patbev21 pic.twitter.com/UlbzpxkcEQ

— FOX Sports West (@FoxSportsWest) February 11, 2021

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