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LOS ANGELES—The Clippers spent the regular season rewriting the franchise record books. Now they are in danger of making a different kind of history in the postseason.

The Clippers lost to the Memphis Grizzlies 103-93 Tuesday night at Staples Center and face the daunting task of having to go on the road to win a playoff game to keep their season alive. Not only that, the Clippers are looking at playing with a less-than-100 percent Blake Griffin, who sprained his ankle Monday in practice and couldn’t finish Tuesday’s game.

The loss Tuesday was the third consecutive in the series for L.A., which is trying to avoid becoming only the 16th team in NBA playoff history to lose a series after taking a 2-0 lead.

“We’ve got to be desperate,” said Chris Paul, who scored 35 points Tuesday. “They say the playoffs don’t start 'til somebody loses at home, so I guess ours started.”

A loss would be a serious blow to a franchise that is trying to turn a corner and become a respected team after years as an NBA also-ran. The Clippers seemed to be headed in that direction this season when they set a franchise record for wins, won a division title for the first time, and swept the season series from the Lakers for the first time since moving to L.A.

A first-round playoff exit would almost certainly rekindle whispers of “the same old Clippers” and would put the Clippers in the same first-round loser’s boat as the Lakers. A win Friday and another one Sunday to take the series would help the franchise edge out of mediocrity and offer some hope that the recent renaissance is for real.

“None of that means anything,” Paul said. “The division, who we beat during the season -- none of that means anything. … For me, all I’m focused on is Game 6.”

Winning at Memphis will be difficult. The Clippers have lost the last two games there by 12 and 21 points. The Grizzlies are rolling now, having won the last three games by an average of 14.3 points. But the Clippers have won in Memphis in must-win situations before.

Last year, the Clippers won Game 7 of their first-round series at FedEx Forum. Just a couple of weeks ago, L.A. defeated the Grizzlies in Memphis with home-court advantage in this series on the line. Even in the two lopsided losses last week, the Clippers were within single digits at the end of three quarters.

“We know we have to play better, regroup and see how healthy we can get between now and then,” coach Vinny Del Negro said. “We’re not going to lay down. We're going to never give up, we’re going to play hard, play together and do what we can to make it work.”

It stands a better chance of working well if Griffin can play. The All-Star forward was the team’s leading scorer and rebounder in the regular season. He landed on teammate Lamar Odom’s foot during practice Monday and tried to play through the pain Tuesday, but had to come out near the end of the third quarter.

“When I feel like I can’t really do what I need to do to help our team, I don’t want to put our team at risk and make it worse,” Griffin said.

It’s still too early to determine Griffin’s status for Friday’s game. And even with a healthy Griffin, it won’t be easy for the Clippers to keep this series alive.

“It’s a challenge,” Griffin said. “They’re tough at home, but we’ve gotten tough wins at their place before so you can’t really rule anything out. Obviously, this is it. Our backs are against the wall. We have to play with a sense of urgency or obviously everybody knows what happens.”

LOS ANGELES — The first game was a blowout and the second was won on a buzzer-beater, but both were wins for the Los Angeles Clippers, and that means they hold a 2-0 series advantage over the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the Western Conference NBA playoffs.

It’s a good omen for the Clippers, who have been up 2-0 in a playoff series only one other time in franchise history. That time, in 2006, they went on to defeat the Denver Nuggets 4-1. A 2-0 series lead also holds a historical advantage: In NBA playoff history, a team has lost a series only 15 times after winning the first two.

Those things mean little to the Clippers, however. Nobody in their locker room was satisfied after Chris Paul’s buzzer-beating bank shot gave L.A. a 93-91 victory in Game 2 at Staples Center.

“All we did was protect our home court,” Vinny Del Negro said. “You have to win four games. We did what we were supposed to do. We know we’re going to have to play better in Memphis.”

It would be difficult to play better than Paul did down the stretch. He scored 19 of his 24 points in the second half and was the only Clippers player to score in the final 3:46 of the game. The Clippers held a 12-point lead with just under 10 minutes to play and let the Grizzlies get back in to tie the game. L.A. was able to get away with that at home, but trying that on the road would be playing with fire.

“Each game is a game in itself,” Paul said. “You don’t carry over points, possessions, foul trouble or anything like that. We know that they’ll be at home in front of their fans with a lot of energy and they feel like they need to win two games at home now.”

The Clippers don’t need to look too far in the past to know how important it is to protect home-court advantage. Last year, Memphis had home-court advantage against the Clippers, but L.A. won Game 1 in Memphis and eventually won the series in seven games -- with Game 7 also in Memphis.

Those aren’t the only good memories the Clippers have of Memphis, either. Less than two weeks ago, the Clippers went into FedEx Forum with home-court advantage in this series on the line and won 91-87.

“I have complete confidence with our team on the road, especially,” Del Negro said. “We know what we’re in for, but that’s what it’s all about. The best part is the competition and challenging yourself to be better. I’m going to challenge this group to prepare the right way and have the right mindset going in.”

Lately, the Clippers have had a pretty good mindset. The win Monday was their ninth in a row overall, going back to the regular season. A streak like that only serves to boost the confidence level for the players. They showed that Saturday in their 112-91 dismantling of the Grizzlies, and Paul’s game-winner Monday was another shot in the arm.

“Every game in the playoffs is must-win,” forward Lamar Odom said. “It’s all about finishing the season strong. You can only do that with wins. It’s all about doing whatever it takes. We got another game, another inch, took another step toward our goal.”

Going up 2-0 in the series will make the plane ride across the country a much better one for the Clippers.

“In the playoffs it’s very important,” Odom said. “Mentally, it takes a little pressure off you, but at the same time we don’t want to go back there and just -- we want to push them to the limit and even play better than we played tonight.”

Odom has been around long enough to know that the series is far from over. Memphis coach Lionel Hollins can only hope so. He was preaching optimism despite the deficit his team is facing as it heads back home.

“We’ve got to go home and hold serve,” Hollins said. “That’s what they did. We almost got one here. It’s not doom and gloom. It was just a tough, hard-fought battle, and we’ve got to go home, and there are going to be two hard-fought battles there. And we’ve got to come away with two of them.”

Grizzlies guard Mike Conley expects the Memphis crowd to come out in full force. The fact that the team is down 2-0 is enough of a rallying cry, but it means even more that the Clippers are coming to town because of all the big wins L.A. has had in Memphis over the past year.

“When the Clippers come to town it’s obviously a different type of crowd because we have a history with them,” Conley said. “We’ve played a bunch of good games with them. We expect it to be loud and crazy and hopefully we can take care of that business at home.”

The Clippers aren’t exactly in a must-win situation on the road. They can merely win all of their home games and still win the series, but that’s not a thought that is crossing their heads as they head to Memphis.

“We’ve got to go down to Memphis and try to steal a game,” Paul said. “We’ve got to be greedy.”

LOS ANGELES—And so one game remains in the record-setting season of the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Clippers have accomplished so much already this season, but so much is still to be decided Wednesday night in Sacramento. The Clippers, on a seven-game win streak, are already a lock for the playoffs so Wednesday’s game isn’t exactly for all the marbles, but there are some pretty big ones still rolling around out there.

A victory Wednesday night at Sacramento would clinch home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs for the Clippers and they still have an outside shot of moving up to the No. 3 seed and an easier first-round matchup.

Securing home court and moving up to the No. 3 seed depends on one thing, however: The Clippers have to win.

“You can speculate and think about this and the other thing, but at the end of the day you have to go out and you have to earn it,” Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. “No one is going to give it to you. If they do, we’ll take it, but right now our mindset is we’re going to go earn it and it’s not going to be an easy game.”

The scenarios for the Clippers (55-26) on the last day of the regular season are three-fold:

1. If the Clippers win and the Denver Nuggets (56-25) lose to the Phoenix Suns (25-56), the Clippers would tie the Nuggets, earn the No. 3 spot because they are the Pacific Division champions and get home court in the first round against the Golden State Warriors or Houston Rockets.

2. If the Clippers lose and the Memphis Grizzlies (55-26) win against the Utah Jazz (43-38), the Clippers would play the Grizzlies and Memphis would have home court advantage.

3. If the Clippers and Memphis both lose, the two would meet in the first round of the playoffs with the Clippers holding home court advantage.

“We’re not set in stone in one seed,” Chris Paul said. “All the previous 81 games led up to [Wednesday] so [Wednesday] is another big game for us.”

The Nuggets and the Grizzlies both play early enough Wednesday that the Clippers will have an idea of the situation by the time they tip off at 7:30 p.m. in Sacramento. Surely they will be scoreboard watching but they say they must prepare as if Memphis and Denver will both win.

“We have to take care of our business and that’s all we can do,” Matt Barnes said. “There are some other games that have an effect on what we do, but if we go out and take care of our business, nothing too bad will happen to us.”

The odds are against the Clippers moving up to the No. 3 seed. The Nuggets and Phoenix are playing in Denver, where the Nuggets boast an NBA-best 37-3 home record. Phoenix, meanwhile is at the bottom of the Western Conference standings and is tied with Sacramento for fewest road wins in the conference.

Memphis is also at home for its game against the Jazz. The Grizzlies are 31-9 at home this season while Utah is 13-27 on the road. One thing going in the Clippers favor is that Utah is playing for its playoff life. The Jazz must win and hope the Lakers lose in order to make the post season.

One thing working against the Clippers is the situation in Sacramento. The Kings (28-53) are among the bottom three teams in the Western Conference and a pedestrian 20-20 at home this season, but the fans will surely be out in full force Wednesday because it could be the last game for the Kings in Sacramento. The team is contemplating a move to Seattle so the game will carry some emotion.

The Clippers embrace that.

“I hope it’s going to be crazy,” said Barnes, who played for the Kings in 2004-05. “I hope the fans really come out and support that team. It’ll be a hostile environment similar to the playoffs so we’ve got to go in there and keep our composure and play good basketball.”

The only thing that really matters to the Clippers, however, is getting a win.

“It’s not about the environment,” Del Negro said. “It’s about us locking in and executing and slowing them down in areas and transition defense. We’ve got to go in with the right mindset, the right level of intensity that needs to be executed and if we do that we’ll have more opportunity.”

The Clippers are struggling as the season draws to a close. Here are some adjustments they can make as they prepare for the postseason:

Sound defensive rotations

The Clippers’ Achilles heel this season has been their 3-point defense, which stems from poor defensive rotations. They’ve lost a handful of games to some of the worst teams in the league -- the Cleveland Cavaliers, Orlando Magic, New Orleans Hornets and Sacramento Kings – because of their inability to defend beyond the arc.

For the season, the Clippers rank 26th in opponent 3-point percentage and 24th in opponent 3-point makes per game. Despite their ninth-ranked overall defense, the Clippers rank just 22nd in opponent points-per-shot, which factors in the amount of 3-pointers they allow.

“We have to play with a little more sense of urgency on both ends of the floor. Our defensive percentages have gone up, which means we're not playing the defense we're capable of," shooting guard Willie Green said after practice last week.

This, in part, has to do with the Clippers’ pick-and-roll defense. While it’s much improved from last year, it’s still susceptible to breakdowns, especially if the ball-handler can get by the Clippers big man who’s hedging. If this happens, the Clippers are left playing three-on-four, which almost always results in an open 3-pointer or lay-up.

"Our bigs are getting stretched out a little bit," head coach Vinny Del Negro said after practice last week. "They have to have a little sense of urgency in closing out. Some guys can make that adjustment, and some guys are struggling with that but we drilled it again today. That's obviously an area of concern."

Since most NBA defenses focus on packing the paint and preventing lay-ups, the Clippers usually collapse toward the rim when they suffer a breakdown and leave shooters open all over the court. And, of course, there are certainly other reasons the Clippers’ defense slips up, whether it’s a guard getting blown by on the perimeter or weak-side defenders over-helping on a drive.

The Clippers need to get on the same page defensively. The two teams they will likely have to defeat in order to make the NBA finals -- the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder -- are the third and fifth-best 3-point shooting teams in the league, respectively, so the Clippers will need to shore up their rotations and figure out a way to stop the bleeding.

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As the playoffs approach, the Clippers and Vinny Del Negro are faced with the dilemma of shortening the rotation and determining their most-efficient lineups.

The Clippers have given 13 different players rotation-level minutes at some point in the season. That number will shrink to nine or 10 guys, at the most, in the playoffs. Tough choices will be made and egos will be bruised.

“It really depends on who’s healthy and who can go. We really haven’t had that consistently. It’s been different lineups for just health reasons,” Del Negro said at practice last week. “Hopefully we can sew that up as we move forward at the end.”

Here are a few postseason lineup tweaks the Clippers probably should make:

The closing lineup

The Clippers best lineup this season, by far, has been DeAndre Jordan at center, Blake Griffin at power forward, Matt Barnes at small forward, Jamal Crawford at shooting guard and Chris Paul at point guard.

The lineup scores 118.4 points per 100 possessions and allows just 90.2 points per 100 possessions defensively (+28.2 net rating), figures that would rank as both the NBA’s top offense and defense by a considerable margin.

Thus far, the Clippers have mainly closed games with Griffin, Barnes, Crawford, Paul and Lamar Odom, not Jordan. The lineup has done very well, scoring 111.5 points per 100 possessions and allowing 103.1 points per 100 possessions (+8.4 net rating). It has been nowhere near as dominant as the lineup with Jordan in the middle, though.

Jordan’s inconsistencies on both ends of the floor, as well as his free-throw shooting woes, have made it difficult for Del Negro to fully trust Jordan with legitimate starter-level and closing-time minutes.

But the numbers say he should be out there.

“We need him big time,” Paul said of Jordan after last week’s win over the Brooklyn Nets. “I think he knows that and he needs to know that. With him in the game, he's a game-changer.”

With Jordan, the Clippers post a 57.0 rebounding percentage; replace him with Odom in that same lineup, and the figure drops to 49.8 percent. The same drop-off occurs offensively (60.4 true shooting percentage with Jordan; 54.6 percent with Odom).

Defensively, the Clippers see a significant boost in their 3-point defense with Jordan, allowing just 28.2 percent shooting on opposing 3-pointers, compared to 40.3 percent 3-point shooting with Odom.

It may run counter to Del Negro’s instincts, but Jordan should finish games.

The bench lineup

With Grant Hill constantly in and out of the lineup, and Eric Bledsoe’s recent injury, the bench has lacked the consistency and structure it had earlier in the season.

Since Jan. 1, the “Tribe Called Bench” lineup of Ronny Turiaf, Odom, Barnes, Crawford and Bledsoe has been outscored by 16.1 points per 100 possessions. But those numbers stem from a very small floor-time sample size (56 minutes).

To spark the struggling bench, Del Negro replaced Turiaf with Ryan Hollins in early February. The results have been abysmal.

Since Feb. 1, about the time Hollins took over as the bench’s center, the new lineup has been outscored by over 20 points per 100 possessions.

Neither Hollins (+0.5 points per 100 possessions) nor Turiaf (+3.8 points per 100 possessions) projects to play much in the postseason, but if one of them needs to be called off the bench, almost all signs point to Turiaf being the better choice.

Wildcard lineups

The wildcards of the Clippers season have been Billups and Hill. If healthy, both will play vital roles in a playoff run. If not, the Clippers will start Willie Green and be stretched thin with Barnes and Butler as their only wing players with size.

The small ball bench lineup with Hill as a big man instead of Turiaf or Hollins has only played 42 minutes, but has been dominated on the glass (47.1 rebound percentage), struggled offensively (87.7 offensive rating) and been outscored by 1.4 points per 100 possessions. Designed around versatility and speed, the lineup might fare well against a team like the Denver Nuggets.

Against the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday night, the Clippers briefly went with a lineup of Griffin, Barnes, Butler, Crawford and Paul down the stretch. The Clippers’ defense struggled, and in 32 minutes overall, the lineup has been disastrous (-25.1 net rating). Replace Crawford with Jordan, though, and the results are much better (+23.5 net rating), indicating the duo of Barnes and Butler can coexist on the wings.

An intriguing lineup of Jordan, Griffin, Barnes, Bledsoe, and Paul has only played 21 minutes and been outscored by 4.4 points per 100 possessions, but has shot efficiently and dominated the boards (62.1 rebounding percentage). The lineup oozes elite defensive potential and off-ball movement, and could have value against a long, athletic team like the Oklahoma City Thunder.

A realistic possibility, depending on the situation, is for Del Negro to finish with Odom, Griffin, Barnes, Billups and Paul. Crawford is the Clippers’ second-best shot creator behind Paul, but Billups has a reputation for making big shots and would alleviate pressure on Paul with his sound decision-making, shooting and court vision. This lineup has only played seven minutes, so it’s impossible to glean anything from the data, but it’s the type of veteran-savvy lineup coaches prefer.

Conclusion

For most of the season, the Clippers’ starters and bench players have played almost entirely separately.

Four of L.A.’s nine lineups that have played at least 100 minutes are entirely compromised of either starting players or bench players. Two other lineups feature either four starters and one bench player or four bench players and one starter.

Therefore, there will be a lot of inexperienced lineups in the postseason, as lineups will be mashed and new player combinations will be tested in the name of defeating the Thunder and San Antonio Spurs. Luckily, Paul, Griffin and Crawford will be on the floor at almost all times, mitigating any potential lulls.

Deciding who should play, who shouldn’t and more importantly when they should play is a difficult and delicate task.

The Clippers’ best chance of playing into June hinges on the coaching staff’s ability to strike the right balance between managing egos and deploying the right combinations, that will be their playing in June.

Stats from nba.com/stats

Los Angeles Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro always talks about the process when he’s talking about the growth of his team and its journey through the season.

There’s no question that process is, to a certain extent, never-ending until a championship is won. But with 20 games left in the regular season, the Clippers’ process at some point has to transition into a more concrete identity and lineup.

In Sunday’s loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, Del Negro played 12 players. Now, that had a lot to do with Blake Griffin and Lamar Odom getting into early foul trouble in the first quarter, but before the playoffs begin, Del Negro needs to shore up his lineup and select a rotation he thinks will win in the postseason.

For all the talk of the Clippers’ depth, the truth is that come playoff time, the best teams roll with their best eight or nine players. The Thunder, for example, played nine players Sunday. Sure, Del Negro is trying to keep everyone happy, but at some point this team’s lineups and rotations have to be as dependable as Chris Paul in the fourth quarter. You have to know what to expect. Far too often with Del Negro, his rotations are a mystery.

We’re in March and there are still moments when the Clippers will run out a lineup we haven’t seen before. It’s usually a mishmash lineup that will include Chauncey Billups and/or Grant Hill, who has missed most of the season with injuries, or Ryan Hollins, who was the odd man out earlier in the season but now is seeing more time.

The Clippers know Paul, Billups, Caron Butler, Griffin and DeAndre Jordan are their starters. They know Jamal Crawford is their sixth man. They know Odom is the first big off the bench, and Matt Barnes and Eric Bledsoe are in that top nine as well.

The question now becomes: How much do you play Bledsoe and Crawford in relation to Billups, who is at the end of his career and coming off a major injury? How much do you play Barnes in relation to Butler when Barnes on some nights is more effective on both ends of the floor? And where do Hill, Ronny Turiaf, Hollins and Willie Green fit in?

There’s time for Del Negro and the Clippers to figure that out, but that process needs to begin now so players aren’t wondering what their roles are during the playoffs and what assignments they have when they’re on the floor with someone they’ve hardly played with. Del Negro has done a good job of balancing the egos and needs of the players on the team during the season, but he’s going to have to make some hard decisions on playing time soon, such as giving Hill, Turiaf, Hollins and Green DNP-CDs as he tightens his lineup.

There’s a certain rhythm and flow that goes with a shortened lineup and every player knowing what his role is and what is expected of him.

There wasn’t much Del Negro could have done about the rotation on Sunday, with Griffin picking up two fouls in four minutes and Odom picking up three in five minutes, but the lineup he was forced to juggle in the first half showed why consistency and familiarity are so important. Del Negro played 12 players in the first half, each for more than five minutes, and not surprisingly the Clippers had 16 turnovers, which led to 17 points for the Thunder.

“I think we were out of rhythm, out of sync,” Del Negro said. “For whatever reason we just kept turning it over, and we didn’t make the easy play. We just couldn’t get any type of rhythm with anybody, really. Obviously Blake got in foul trouble early and then LO picked up three, so I was just trying to manage things for the half, and we made some adjustments.”

One of the biggest adjustments was playing only nine players in the second half and leaning on eight. The Clippers got into a nice rhythm with their core group and came back from 19-point deficit to take a one-point lead before eventually losing.

“Hopefully,” Del Negro said, “we can use this as a barometer to tighten some things up.”

If Del Negro can do that, it would go a long way in speeding up the Clippers’ process heading into the playoffs.

The trade deadline came and went, and Eric Bledsoe, the Clippers’ sought-after backup point guard, remained a Clipper.

By not trading Bledsoe, the Clippers guaranteed they’d have at least one talented point guard on the roster if Chris Paul were to leave as a free agent this summer. They also kept on hand a developing, dangerous change-of-pace player who could be a difference maker in the playoffs.

The Clippers have the next year and a half to decide whether or not they will keep Bledsoe, a restricted free agent in 2014, as a core part of their foundation.

***

The 23-year-old point guard watched a recent game on an iPad with Clippers assistant coach Robert Pack. As they went over clips, Pack demonstrated where Bledsoe should have hedged when the Trailblazers’ LaMarcus Aldridge had the ball in the post.

“Bled is a student of the game,” Pack said. “His first two seasons, I’d usually be the one grabbing him to watch film. But this season, he’s beating me to the punch. He’s bringing the clips to me. He’s studying the opposition and looking for any breaks and advantages he can get.”

The two watched film for more than 30 minutes before Bledsoe suited up for what was his seventh start in nine games. With Paul recently out with a bruised right kneecap, Bledsoe had been thrust into the starting role. While he exceeded expectations, Bledsoe knew he was only scratching the surface of his potential.

“I think I’m doing pretty well, but there’s still a lot of room for improvement,” he said. “I need to come out and take it to another level.”

***

The hype surrounding Bledsoe can be traced back to a breakout performance in the 2012 playoffs, when he emerged as an athletic defensive pest with energy and upside.

As the Clippers prepared for their 2012 playoff run, Bledsoe, who averaged only 11 minutes of action in the regular season, wasn’t expected to contribute much. That quickly changed when he was given an opportunity against Memphis in the first round. He was surprisingly productive on offense (62.1 true shooting percentage) and suffocated the Grizzlies’ Mike Conley, holding him to just 25 percent shooting and a +/- rating of -19.4.

“I finally had confidence going in. My coach and my teammates had confidence in me all season,” Bledsoe said. “I just had to find it in myself. It took a while, but I played with something to prove in the playoffs.”

***

With the departure of Mo Williams in an offseason trade, Bledsoe became a full-time backup point guard this season.

Outside of high school and a small portion of his rookie season, Bledsoe didn’t have much experience at the position.

“Being the lead guard was an adjustment for him,” Pack said. “We’ve constantly stressed to him that he needs to be a leader on the floor, play with the pace that he plays at, but just make the right decisions with that pace.”

Over the summer, Bledsoe played competitive pick-up games at a local rec center in his hometown of Birmingham, Ala,, arriving at the gym at 9 a.m., working on his core and legs for an hour or two, and then spend the rest of the day playing basketball against former college and overseas players. No drills. No weight lifting. Just basketball.

Pack visited him in late August and the two ran drills at nearby Samford University, focusing on Bledsoe’s pull-up shooting off pick-and-rolls, spotting up for corner 3-pointers and learning how to pick his spots offensively, or, as Pack said, “the cerebral part of his game.”

Bledsoe participated in the Clippers’ summer pick-up games at their training facility and impressed his teammates.

“To see how much Bled has grown is just amazing to me,” Paul said earlier this season. “I’ve known him since high school. He was actually a camper of mine at my point guard camp. To see how his confidence has grown from last to this year is impressive.”

***

He’s always had the athletic gifts, but now he’s started to develop point guard habits, finding open cutters and shooters, connecting with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan for lobs. He looks much more comfortable controlling the offense than ever before.

Bledsoe has been a statistical anomaly so far this season. His per-36 minute stats are in line with his starting numbers, suggesting he could be an All-Star candidate with increased playing time.

He started -- and performed well -- during Paul’s recent injury stint. He averages 18.5 minutes with Paul having returned to the starting lineup. With more traditional shooting guards on the roster -- Jamal Crawford, Willie Green and now a healthy Chauncey Billups -- Vinny Del Negro has opted to mainly deploy Bledsoe at point guard, and rarely alongside Paul.

“I just come in and provide that spark that we need to get everybody involved,” Bledsoe said.

“He’s a good defensive player. He likes to play center field and gamble,” Memphis Grizzlies head coach Lionel Hollins said after a recent loss to the Paul-less Clippers. “He’s got great quickness and great athleticism. … Just that aspect of his game, his athleticism, is what creates problems.”

Though he’s generously listed at 6-foot-1, Bledsoe has a deceptively long 6-foot-7 wingspan and a 40-inch vertical, allowing him to steal passes and block shots most players his size aren’t capable of reaching. “Bledsoe is a very good pressure guy,” Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau said earlier this season. “If you turn your back on him and expose the ball at all, they’re going to get it.”

***

Defense and energy are great attributes for a bench player, and a backup point guard is an important contributor, but if Paul re-signs with the Clippers as a free agent Bledsoe’s future with the team ultimately may depend on his ability to play significant minutes as a shooting guard.

If and when Paul re-signs, it wouldn’t make sense to pay Bledsoe a hefty sum to back him up. As reported by ESPN’s Chris Broussard, Bledsoe can earn somewhere between $7.5 million to $8.5 million per season as a free agent on the open market. With the new CBA luxury tax penalties, the Clippers couldn’t afford to commit that much money to Bledsoe unless he was playing starters’ minutes.

Everyone from Paul to Pack to Dwyane Wade has said Bledsoe is ready to start. Paul has even stated that he believes Bledsoe should have his own team and will eventually become an All-Star. That probably doesn’t happen for Bledsoe in a Clippers uniform.

The reality is that Bledsoe is going to get paid lucratively; it’s just a matter of where. It will be up to the Clippers’ front office to decide if he fits with Paul and Blake Griffin, as well as in the team’s long-term plans.

“Whatever happens happens. For right now I’m playing backup point guard for the Los Angeles Clippers,” he said. “Who knows what the future holds. I’m going to continue doing what I’m doing and try to get a win at the end of the day.”

LOS ANGELES -- The offseasons of the Los Angeles Clippers and the San Antonio Spurs began three weeks apart but with similar goals in mind.

After losing four straight games to the same team to finish their seasons, the Clippers and Spurs knew they needed to make major changes if they hoped to get to the NBA Finals.

While the Spurs focused almost solely on the defensive end, the Clippers focused on reshaping their roster around Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. They needed to get deeper, smarter and more able to bang against Memphis down low one series, and guard the perimeter against San Antonio the next.

Both plans appeared to be working heading into last week’s NBA All-Star break, with the Spurs and Clippers occupying two of the top three seeds in the West and two of the top four seeds in the NBA.

But as Spurs coach Gregg Popovoich said before the Clippers played his team Thursday night, “It doesn’t matter what the standings are. The standings are sort of fake during the year.”

After the Spurs’ 116-90 dismantling of the Clippers, maybe Los Angeles’ championship prosepcts aren’t entirely fake, but its authenticity has certainly come under heavy scrutiny.

Sure, the Clippers will win 50 games this season and win the Pacific Division, two significant firsts for a franchise that has never done either. They may even accomplish another first by advancing to the Western Conference finals if things fall right for them in the postseason. But the realistic chances of this team winning a title or even getting to the NBA Finals have taken a major blow over the past two weeks.

Not only did the Clippers lose by 26 points to the Spurs on Thursday, but two weeks ago they lost by 22 points to the Miami Heat. In both games they fell behind by at least 32 points in the second half and never led by more than three points in the first half. In fact, they never even led Thursday, as the Spurs took a 34-21 lead after the first quarter. The Clippers are also 0-2 against the Oklahoma City Thunder this season.

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LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Clippers spent the majority of their offseason putting together a team that would be better suited to beating the San Antonio Spurs if they ever met in the playoffs again.

After Los Angeles was swept by the Spurs in the playoffs last season, San Antonio was in the back of the Clippers' minds as they made move after move this summer. On Thursday, none of it seemed to matter as the Clippers were thoroughly outclassed and outmatched in a 116-90 drubbing that was easily L.A.’s most embarrassing loss of the season.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Backcourt disappearance

If the Clippers are going to have any success against the Spurs or have a chance of going far in the playoffs, they’re going to need their backcourt of Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups to shine. On Thursday, they were a no-show. Paul finished with four points on 1-of-4 shooting to go along with five turnovers, three assists and two rebounds. Billups wasn’t much better, as he finished with six points on 0-of-2 shooting, getting all his points from the free throw line. Neither player was able to get into any kind of a rhythm, while Paul looked rusty even after his 20-point, 15-assist MVP performance in Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game. They were outplayed by Tony Parker, who had 31 points on 12-of-16 shooting with seven assists and two rebounds.

Cold night

The Clippers played poorly across the board, but their ineptitude hit its depths in the third quarter, as Los Angeles hit just five of 14 shots and didn’t hit a field goal until nearly midway through the quarter. The Clippers not only hit 35.7 percent of their shots in the quarter, but allowed the Spurs to score 34 points and hit 60 percent of their shots. Whatever halftime adjustments Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro made clearly didn’t work, or fell on deaf ears, as the Clippers quickly found themselves down by 34 points in the second half.

What now?

If this is a preview of things to come, the Clippers could be looking at another quick series against the Spurs if the two teams end up facing each other. The Clippers know Paul and Billups won’t combine for 10 points and five assists many times, and if they do, they fully expect to be on the losing end. The problem for the Clippers is this isn’t really an aberration because they were blown out by the Miami Heat recently when Paul and Billups had off nights as well. If the Clippers want to be considered one of the top teams in the NBA, they can’t get blown out and fall behind by 30 or more points in the second half to teams such as the Heat and the Spurs. The Clippers likely will recover from this loss and finish with the third seed in the West, but their confidence going into a playoff rematch against San Antonio can’t be high given how badly they looked against the Spurs on Thursday with a fully healthy roster.

As the Clippers prepare for the playoffs, here are some storylines to watch down the stretch.

Health issues

It’s no surprise that the Clippers have struggled with injuries this season. Besides Blake Griffin (23), DeAndre Jordan (24) and Eric Bledsoe (23), the Clippers aren’t exactly a young team. Still, they have arguably the deepest roster in the league, so if any team is capable of withstanding a myriad of injuries, it’s this group. With that said, keep an eye on the status of Paul’s knee -- if he’s banged up even a little bit, the Clippers are extremely vulnerable.

Favorable schedule

The Clippers have a relatively easy schedule down the stretch, playing 15 of their final 26 games at home, where L.A. is 21-5. They face San Antonio twice, Oklahoma City once, Memphis twice, Indiana twice and New York once, but besides those eight games, the rest of their schedule is more or less against subpar teams (they have 13 games against teams currently under .500). Expect the Clippers to head into the playoffs with considerable momentum.

Playoff seeding

Even when they reeled off their 17-game win streak earlier this season, the Clippers couldn’t separate themselves from the Spurs and Thunder. After suffering a setback with Paul out of the lineup, the Clippers (39-17) find themselves closer to the fourth-place Memphis Grizzlies (34-18) than they do to the first-place Spurs (42-12). Their cupcake schedule will give them some breathing room over the Grizzlies and Denver Nuggets, but do the Clippers have enough in the tank to make a run at a top-two seed? It could determine whether they advance to the conference finals or not.

Closing lineup

A point of contention this season has been the topic of who should close games. Vinny Del Negro has publicly stated he prefers the hot hand, but for the most part, the Clippers finish games with Griffin, Paul and Barnes, and then either Crawford or Billups at shooting guard and Odom or Jordan at center. The lineups with Crawford and either big man have crushed opponents, while Billups’ sample size is too small to yet reach a clear analysis of it. Either way, it’ll be interesting to see which lineup gets the nod in crunch time of a vital playoff game.

CP3 for MVP

If not for LeBron James and Kevin Durant’s otherworldly dominance, Paul would likely be the leading MVP candidate. Look no further than his performance at the All-Star Game in Houston to see his control over a glorified pickup game with the game’s best players. The Clippers’ record speaks for itself -- they’re 33-11 with Paul and 6-6 without him. To say they look lost offensively without him would be an understatement. If Paul can lead a late Clipper rally and the team grabs a top-two seed, he’ll have a shot at crashing the presumed two-man party for MVP.

Griffin’s second half improvement

Last season, Griffin’s shooting percentage in the 16-23 feet range improved to 39 percent after the All-Star break. Over the past 20 games, Griffin’s points, rebounds, assists and field goal percentage have dramatically risen, so there’s reason to think he may continue to improve after the All-Star break. In particular, his passing has been impressive of late -- he’s at nearly five assists a night over that stretch.

3-point defense

In most of the Clippers’ losses to lottery bound teams, the central theme has been their inability to defend 3-pointers. According to Grantland’s Zach Lowe (http://www.grantland.com/blog/the-triangle/post/_/id/42920/unit-watch-the-heats-problem-on-defense), only two teams have made the conference finals between 1998-99 and 2010-11 while allowing above-average 3-point attempts and an above-average 3-point shooting percentage. The Clippers do both, ranking 24th in opponent 3-point attempts and 25th in opponent 3-point percentage. The Spurs and Thunder are among the best 3-point shooting teams in the league, so the Clippers will be in serious trouble if they can’t shore up this defensive flaw come playoff time.

Small forward rotation

The emergence of a healthy Grant Hill has brought about an interesting question: How will the wing minutes be dispersed as the rotations tighten? Recently, Del Negro has deployed either Hill or Barnes at power forward to create a smaller, faster second-unit lineup and assure ample minutes for his three small forwards. But when the playoffs roll around, there won’t be as many minutes available. Playing time will likely fluctuate on a game-by-game basis, but there will be instances when someone who is accustomed to playing is relegated to the bench.

A Tribe Called Bench

Which “Tribe Called Bench” will we get for the rest of the season? After captivating the league for almost half the season, things have cooled down substantially. Replacing Ronny Turiaf with Ryan Hollins hasn’t been beneficial; the original bench lineup has a +11.3 net rating with Turiaf, and a -1.1 net rating with Hollins. The new small ball lineup (Odom, Hill, Barnes, Crawford, Bledsoe) has been even worse, posting an anemic -13.0 net rating. It remains to be seen if the group can regain its mojo. But if the Clippers keep winning, does it matter?

Stats for this piece are from ESPN.com, HoopData.com and NBA.com.

LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Clippers knew things would not be easy without Chris Paul and Chauncey Billups.

The beauty of a backcourt like that is the ability of Billups, a five-time All-Star and former NBA Finals MVP, to simply slide over and play point guard if anything happened to Paul. Of course, when both Paul and Billups are out things get a little trickier. Suddenly, Eric Bledsoe is the starting point guard and the Clippers have to lean on Jamal Crawford or Grant Hill to bring the ball up the court with the second unit.

That led to four straight losses for the Clippers, who were tied for the best record in the NBA at the midway point of the season (32-9) before their losing streak.

The Clippers finally put an end to the streak Sunday night with a 96-83 win over the Portland Trail Blazers. With Oklahoma City's loss earlier in the day, the Clippers are just 1.5 games behind the Thunder.

Here are three takeaways from the game:

Griffin dishes

Blake Griffin has certainly stepped up in the absence of Paul. One night after posting 24 points and 10 assists at Portland, Griffin responded with 23 points and nine assists against the Blazers in L.A. Griffin finished just one assist shy of becoming the first power forward to post back-to-back 20-point and 10-assist games since Chris Webber in 2005, according to Basketball Reference. Griffin has also improved his free-throw shooting, hitting 9 of 11 over the last two games. Griffin has had to become more of a leader in the absence of Paul, a role he's not particularly comfortable with but one that has slowly grown on him over the past week.

Bench play

The Clippers' bench has usually been able to rely on a big scoring night from either Crawford or Matt Barnes. On a night when the Clippers led by as many as 19 points in the fourth quarter, they just needed solid nights from their two best bench players. Crawford finished with nine points and five assists while Barnes had seven points and four rebounds. The key was the Clippers were able to get contributions from Lamar Odom (eight points, 13 rebounds), Grant Hill (six points, two assists) and Ronny Turiaf (six points, two rebounds).

Backcourt issues

As much as the Clippers miss Paul and Billups, it doesn't look as if they will be getting either one back soon. Paul is certainly expected back before Billups, but Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro did not have a timetable for either player's return when asked pregame. That means that Bledsoe must continue to develop as a starting point guard and Willie Green must continue to give them more than he previously had as a starter. On Sunday, Bledsoe finished with 10 points, five rebounds and five assists while Green had seven points, one rebound and no assists. The Clippers will obviously need more from them on a consistent basis without Paul and Billups but as long as Griffin is averaging around 23 points and nine assists, the Clippers should be fine.

Midseason thoughts on the Clippers’ roster.

STARTERS:

PG: Chris Paul

Season averages (39 GP): 16.6 PPG, 3.5 RPG, 9.7 APG, 2.6 SPG, 26.1 PER

Don’t let his numbers fool you: Paul is playing at an MVP-caliber level. Besides LeBron James and Kevin Durant, no player has a better statistical résumé. Paul is third in PER and second in win shares per 48 minutes, and he has guided the Clippers to a top-five rating on offense and defense. The only qualms would be that he has struggled with his 3-point shot (33.3 percent) and is sometimes too passive early in games, but it’s tough to chide one of the three best players in basketball.

SG: Willie Green

Season averages (40 GP): 6.5 PPG, 39.6 3PT%, 11.4 PER

Green’s role has fluctuated throughout the season, but his consistency has not. He has stayed within his offensive limitations, serving as a reliable spot-up 3-point shooter. His defense has been poor -- opposing shooting guards register a 58.2 eFG% and 16.9 PER against him -- but that’s somewhat negated by his playing only 18.2 minutes per game. When Chauncey Billups returns, Green will go back to the bench and play limited minutes.

SF: Caron Butler

Season averages (41 GP): 9.7 PPG, 38.6 3PT%, 11.7 PER

After serving as a key contributor last season, Butler has become a complementary player on a deep roster. That’s not to say he hasn’t been effective -- he’s transformed his game and has become the Clippers’ much-needed floor spacer (40.7 percent on spot-up 3-pointers), as evidenced by his 33-point and 29-point performances this season. He’s lost a few steps defensively (340th in defensive points per play), which has allowed Matt Barnes to soak up a lot of Butler's minutes.

PF: Blake Griffin

Season averages (43 GP): 18.3 PPG, 8.6 RPG, 3.4 APG, 1.5 SPG, 22.8 PER

All the offseason talk was about Griffin’s improved jump shot, and it has improved, but his passing skills are rarely discussed. Among power forwards, he’s third in assists per game, 10th in assist rate, and third in assists leading to 3-pointers (the most valuable assist). Most importantly, he has improved tremendously on defense, allowing the 18th-fewest points per play. Add in his new post game, and Griffin has become a near-complete player.

C: DeAndre Jordan

Season averages (43 GP): 8.8 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 1.5 BPG, 59.6 FG%, 16.6 PER

While Jordan has become more efficient offensively (career-high 13.0 points per 36 minutes), his free throw shooting (42.0 percent) and rebounding (16.6 rebounding percentage) have regressed and limited his playing time. The threat of him scoring, especially at the rim (fifth in dunks), is valuable and gives Paul and Griffin proper space to operate. Coach Vinny Del Negro clearly favors Odom in crunch time, though, which is a disconcerting sign for Jordan’s playoff role.

KEY RESERVES:

G: Jamal Crawford

Season averages (41 GP): 16.6 PPG, 2.4 APG, 88.6 FT%, 16.7 PER

Crawford was scorching hot to start the season, averaging 20.7 points through the first nine games. He has cooled off since then but remains the go-to option on a second unit that lacks shot creators. If not for Barnes’ versatility, Crawford would be the front-runner for Sixth Man of the Year. He’s established himself as the third option in crunch time and, more importantly, has been a willing passer and off-ball player (career-high 54 percent of shots assisted on).

G: Eric Bledsoe

Season averages (43 GP): 8.7 PPG, 1.5 SPG, 38.9 3PT%, 19.2 PER

The bench’s energizer bunny has had an up-and-down season, which isn’t unusual for a third-year point guard. Still, there’s no denying Bledsoe’s potential as a starter and future All Star. He’s displayed a new sense of pace and control (career-low turnover percentage) that, coupled with his stout defensive abilities (2.9 steals and 1.3 blocks per 36 minutes), has GMs drooling to acquire him. His block of Dwyane Wade remains the top Clippers highlight this season.

F/G: Matt Barnes

Season averages (42 GP): 11.2 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 1.2 SPG, 0.9 BPG, 17.7 PER

The surprise player of the Clippers’ season has done everything they expected Grant Hill to do and more. Barnes is shooting at a career-high level (35.7 percent on 3-pointers), defends the opponent’s top scorer each night, and is as active off the ball as any player in the league. There’s no better bargain in the NBA than his minimum-salary contract. Barnes’ perimeter defense may be the greatest factor in determining how far L.A. advances in the postseason.

F/C: Lamar Odom

Season averages (43 GP): 3.7 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 0.9 BPG, 10.5 PER

At the beginning of the season, we weren’t sure whether Odom could run up and down the court for 10 minutes, let alone produce. Fast-forward three months, and he’s become the player the Clippers envisioned over the offseason. His rebounding rate (10th defensively, 18th overall) is outstanding, and there’s never been any doubt that Odom is among the game’s best passing big men. Moving forward, he needs to shoot better (38.1 FG%) to justify an uptick in minutes.

F: Grant Hill:

Season averages (6 GP): 4.3 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 0.7 SPG, 9.6 PER

His Clippers debut took a lot longer than expected, but it appears he was worth the wait. Though his jumper has been rusty (13 percent from 16-23 feet), he’s finished around the rim efficiently (75 percent) and moved well off the ball. The Clippers’ new bench unit features Hill at power forward, yet he’s defended everyone from Russell Westbrook to Emeka Okafor. His defensive versatility allows the Clippers to switch any screen under the sun.

ROTATION BUBBLE:

F/C: Ronny Turiaf

Season averages (41 GP): 2.2 PPG, 0.7 BPG, 56.1 FG%, 10.5 PER

Known for his infectious attitude, Turiaf does more than simply cheer from the bench (team-high 92.9 defensive rating). Along with Odom, Turiaf has manned the backline of the bench’s stellar defense and has protected the rim in ways L.A. sorely lacked last season (2.0 blocks per 36 minutes). With Hill back, it’s likely Turiaf will lose his rotation spot, but he’s nice insurance if Jordan or Griffin gets into foul trouble.

C: Ryan Hollins

Season averages (30 GP): 2.4 PPG, 0.5 BPG, 59.5 FG%, 9.1 PER

Hollins is the only healthy player consistently racking up DNP-CDs, which is the downside of having such a deep roster. Like Turiaf, though, Hollins was signed as an insurance policy, not as a rotation player. In limited minutes, Hollins has done what he always does -- score at the rim, block shots (2.0 per 36 minutes), barely rebound (12.1 rebound percentage) and foul a lot (career-high 8.5 per 36 minutes).

INJURED:

G: Chauncey Billups

Season averages (3 GP): 7.3 PPG, 2.3 APG, 0.7 SPG, 12.5 PER

The Clippers are such a deep team that most people forget Billups has missed all but three games. Though there is only a small sample size to go on, the results are encouraging: The Clippers are a much better with Billups on the floor (+16.9 net rating). When he eventually suits up, L.A. can expect an increase in 3-point shooting and sound decision-making (9.6 turnovers per-48 minutes) as well as another clutch scorer to alleviate the pressure on Paul.

F: Trey Thompkins:

Season averages (0 GP): N/A

Thompkins didn’t play much last season, and with a slew of big men already ahead of him on the depth chart and no set timetable for his return, it appears that he won't see any floor time this season either.

Stats used from ESPN.com, NBA.com, MySynergySports.com and 82games.com.

Two dry-erase boards hang in the Los Angeles Clippers' locker room. One lists the standings in the Western Conference and the other the Eastern Conference.

The Clippers have had the boards hanging in the room for years. It was usually a cruel reminder of their place in the NBA. Some players even wondered what purpose it served.

This season, however, it has been a source of motivation and a daily reminder of how far the Clippers have come.

At the halfway point of the season, the Clippers were tied for the best record in the NBA and in the hunt for the top seed in the West.

It’s a remarkable spot for a franchise that has made the playoffs only five times in Los Angeles and has never won more than 47 games in a season since 1977.

But are the Clippers really championship contenders or simply an exciting basketball team that will fizzle out in the postseason as they did last season?

I talked to three former coaches who have watched the Clippers this season to get their take on the Clippers’ playoff chances: Mike Dunleavy, who coached the Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Milwaukee Bucks and Portland Trail Blazers over 20 years and is currently the co-host of SiriusXM’s “Off The Dribble”; Dr. Jack Ramsay, who coached the Philadelphia 76ers, Buffalo Braves, Trail Blazers and Indiana Pacers over 20 years and is currently an ESPN analyst; and Mike Fratello, who coached the Atlanta Hawks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies over 20 years and is currently a TNT analyst.

Though some have questioned whether the Clippers’ style will translate to the more deliberate pace of playoff basketball, each of the coaches I spoke to said he felt the Clippers’ regular-season success is sustainable in the postseason.

“It’s sustainable because of Chris Paul,” Dunleavy said. “You have a guy that is a great floor general and a guy that is a great closer. You go back a couple of years when he was in New Orleans, and he nearly took the Lakers to Game 7 in their playoff series virtually by himself. There were some other players, of course, but for the most part, it was all Chris Paul. Based off what he’s able to do off pick-and-rolls and creating opportunity baskets where people have to double-team him, he’s able to create easy opportunities for DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin. He also has the ability to get to the rim and create open shots for guys that have the ability to knock shots down like Jamal Crawford and Caron Butler.”

Ramsay also emphasized the value of having Paul at the helm.

“Chris Paul has a huge impact on both ends of the floor,” he said. “I think a lot of people don’t realize what a very good defender he is on the ball and as a help defender. They have good basket defense, and Paul can get shots for himself and his teammates almost at will. Nobody seems to have an answer for his skills on the offensive end.”

For all the highlights of “Lob City,” Paul, along with veterans like Chauncey Billups and Grant Hill, has helped younger players on the team, such as Griffin and Jordan, recognize how to play and stay focused on the team’s ultimate goal -- winning a championship.

“[Paul] gets his teammates to buy into what he’s saying,” Fratello said. “I think he’s probably responsible for the maturity of his power forward and center. They’re two young guys who maybe get it a little bit more now and understand it a little bit better now because of Chris, Chauncey Billups and Grant Hill who might say, ‘No, no, no, this is where our heads are today’ or ‘Cut that out. That’s not going to help us win tonight.’ Those are the little things that veteran guys give you.”

Still, the team will be hard-pressed to duplicate its frenetic pace against the defensive pressure of playoff basketball. While Fratello doesn’t see any glaring weaknesses in the Clippers’ attack, Dunleavy and Ramsay both wonder how they’ll respond when teams tighten up defensively.

“The nights that teams do a great job transition-wise and don’t let them get numbers, it’s hard for them to win,” Dunleavy said. “They also don’t have that one big guy in the low post. Blake is really an above-the-rim guy. He’s getting better all the time playing in the low post, but you’d like to have that one guy when things go a little cold you can throw the ball into the low post and have a great opportunity of coming out with a score. You can say Blake is getting to be that guy, but there are still some hiccups there between him and DeAndre with their free throw shooting late in games.”

Not only did Ramsay think the Clippers’ free throw shooting was an issue, but he also wasn’t sure if Crawford and Matt Barnes could give the Clippers the same kind of punch off the bench in the postseason as they have been able to provide during the regular season.

“They’re getting good performances from a lot of people who have not had a history of that in their careers,” Ramsay said. “They’re going to have to perform at a high level in the playoffs when the games are very closely contested. Can they keep coming up with big plays like they have pretty consistently in the regular season? They seem to think so.”

Each coach complimented the job Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro has done, but there’s no question he is as inexperienced as most of his players are when it comes to winning in the postseason. He is 8-15 in the playoffs as a coach and has never made it out of the second round.

Fratello is convinced this season will be different for Del Negro and the Clippers.

“They are deep, and they have the ability of playing big and playing small,” he said. “They have inside presence, outside presence, shot-blocking ability. … They have all the pieces that are necessary. This is a well-put-together roster. It’s a good mixture of veteran guys for leadership and experience and the young and athletic guys that make it a fun and exciting game to watch. It’s a really good group.”

During the offseason, Blake Griffin made a conscious effort to work on his shooting form with Clippers shooting coach Bob Thate.

Early indications are the work is paying off.

“I feel more consistent and comfortable (with my shot),” Griffin told me earlier this season. “I feel like now when I shoot, it’s going to go in. It’s not a second guess or anything like that.”

As opposing defenses concentrate more on keeping him off the blocks, Griffin is taking fewer shots at the rim this season than last (5.3/game down from 7.2/game) and fewer shots from within 9 feet (61.3 percent of his attempts, down from 69.6 last year). Most teams are reluctant to play up on him because of his speed, athleticism and finishing ability, preferring to have him shoot from the perimeter than get a dunk or lay-up.

Anticipating this tactic coming into the season, Griffin needed to improve his shooting percentage from 16-23 feet, as proficiency from that range would allow him to stretch defenses and would make Chris Paul even more dangerous as a distributor with options.

Though it's still a work in progress, so far so good. Griffin has improved his shooting percentage from that range from 37 last season to 38.4 this season.

Thate’s diagnosis was that Griffin would often mistime his release and shoot on the way down, instead of shooting at the peak of his jump.

"Most of the time now when I shoot, when I mess up, I hold the ball a little too long, especially on the way down,” said Griffin. “My posture is a lot better as far as going straight up and down . . . the thing I'm really working on now is trying to shoot on the way up."

Concentration on form has paid off at the free throw line as well. Although Griffin’s free throw attempts are down (as a result of taking fewer shots around the rim), his percentage from the line has gone up more than ten points (62.7 vs. 52.1) since last season.

“I look forward to going to the line now,” he said. “It takes time but I feel much more confident about it. I feel that my shot is there and I just have to keep working on it.”

And when he is able to establish low post position, Griffin’s improved eye is also making him more dangerous down low. He has increased his post-up scoring from .83 points per play to .95 (making him the 14th-best post scorer in the league) and has bumped his post-up situation shooting percentage from 44.9 to 48.9.

While Griffin has transformed into a more perimeter-oriented big man, his points per-36 minutes (20), shooting percentage (53.4 percent) and PER (22.5) are in line with his career averages and his Win Shares per 48 minutes is a career high .207.

Griffin is, of course, most explosive and dangerous as a finisher in and around the basket, but the balance he's achieving with improved outside shooting may be the best version of his game we've seen yet.

Stats for this piece come from ESPN.com, NBA.com and MySynergySports.com.

LOS ANGELES – Blake Griffin hasn’t been around the Los Angeles Clippers long enough to tell stories of how bad things once were for what was long one of the most maligned franchises in pro sports history.

He’s only heard about the team practicing and training at the Spectrum, a health club in the South Bay where players would lift weights alongside fans. He vaguely remembers that the Clippers were 19-63 before drafting him first overall in 2009. And he wasn’t aware that the Clippers only had two winning seasons since 1977 prior to last season.

Griffin doesn’t know how bad things really were but he certainly got a sense of it in his first two seasons on the team, before Chris Paul arrived last year. He heard the questions, he saw the turnout at games and, most of all, he saw the results. The Clippers were 61-103 in his first two seasons, the first of which he missed after suffering a stress fracture in his left knee.

“It used to be coming in to play the Clippers was the trip to Los Angeles when you could go out and enjoy yourself,” Griffin said. “Now, every game we have the bull's-eye on us and we want to put it right back on them. We realize we have a target on our backs, and we’ve said that from the very beginning of the season. We know teams are pretty hyped to play us, whether we go there on the road or they come in to play us.”

It took the Clippers some time to adjust to playing with that target. They lost at home to the Cleveland Cavaliers and the New Orleans Hornets early in the season and watched as both teams celebrated on their home floor as if they had just won the championship. Their 105-98 loss to New Orleans on Nov. 26, coming off a three-game road losing streak, was particularly hard to handle. The Hornets hit 15 3-pointers in the game and made sure the Clippers knew about it after each one went in.

When Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro heard that his players were upset with how the Hornets celebrated their win, he said: “If we played a lot better than we did, they wouldn’t be celebrating. Guys are going to celebrate. It’s a big win to beat us. So, take that as a compliment, but there’s also responsibility that goes with that. If you don’t want guys celebrating, then go do your job and we’ll do the celebrating.”

Since then, the Clippers have done their job and have done all the celebrating. They have won a franchise-record 13 straight games since Nov. 26, the longest winning streak in the NBA this season, and have beaten their opponents during the streak by an average margin of 15.6 points per game.

After the loss to New Orleans, Chauncey Billups and Caron Butler talked to the team about their new roles as the hunted. Every team that played the Clippers was looking to score a surprise knockout. It was up to the Clippers to throw the first punch and continue peppering their opponent with punches until the fight was over.

"We're fortunate enough to be in a situation where when we go into a game every night it's not necessarily about the other team," Paul said. "It's about what we do. I've been on teams where you go into a game thinking you have to play almost a perfect game to beat a certain team. Fortunately, we have a pretty good team."

If this season is going to be as special as the Clippers think it can be, they can no longer afford to lose home games to the likes of Cleveland and New Orleans or go on four-game losing streaks.

“It was funny. My rookie year when we would play teams and we didn’t have a great record, it was more lighthearted,” Griffin said. “The coaching staff would joke around with you. You could say something back to them that was a joke or joke with the other team. Now, everybody takes everything more personally because it is a big game. It’s a game that they want to win, and we want to win even more. Every game is more businesslike.”

Suns coach Alvin Gentry saw firsthand how bad the Clippers used to be. He was their head coach from 2000-03, going 89-133 before he was fired. Now as the head coach of the Phoenix Suns, he has also seen firsthand in two losses this season how good the Clippers are.

“That is the best team we've played," Gentry told reporters Sunday after the Clippers beat the Suns 103-77. “They're deep. They've got all the ingredients to be a championship team. They've got a great leader in Chris Paul, a tremendous player in Blake Griffin, they're deep off the bench, they're very good defensively, they're very athletic. ... Don't know a weakness that they have, really.”

As good as the Clippers have been, Paul knows the streak has to come to an end sooner or later. The way they've played and the lessons they've learned during the streak, however, don't have to end.

“At some point, hopefully not, we’re probably going to lose,” Paul said. “We just got to keep this same even keel and keep the same intensity. Right now, we’re building an identity. We go into every game expecting to win. That’s one of the biggest things that’s changed around here.”