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PLAYA VISTA, Calif. -- Here are exit interviews from Monday's media session with three Los Angeles Clippers who filled supporting roles for the 2011-2012 squad behind Blake Griffin and Chris Paul.

Guard Mo Williams came into the season expecting to be the team's starting point guard, then quickly found himself third on the pecking order in a matter of days. He reflected on those days and how the season turned out for him, and reiterated his plans to opt in on the final year of his contract for next season.

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Clippers guard Nick Young admitted it after Sunday's season-ending loss to the San Antonio Spurs: Before a week ago, he had never watched the Spurs play any elongated stretch of basketball.

"Nobody really watches the Spurs, man," Young said. "But sitting there on the court, getting a chance to really watch, I understand why Tim Duncan is one of the best power forwards to play this game and how good (Manu) Ginobili and (Tony) Parker really are.

"I got a chance to see it first-hand."

As did the rest of the Los Angeles Clippers. As a team, they all said pregame that the key to winning Sunday's Game 4 and extending the series at least one more game was to play with desperation. And they did that -- they really did. Chris Paul and Eric Bledsoe starred in the fourth quarter and nearly led them to the win.

Then why didn't they pull it off? According to center DeAndre Jordan, in the second round the Clippers ran into an immovable force in the San Antonio Spurs -- or at least a force they couldn't figure out how to move.

"We had a couple chances, but they were a better team," Jordan said after Sunday's 102-99 Game 4 loss, speaking about both the game and the series. "They know how to win.

"I felt like we played a great game today and we played hard. We just came up short again."

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LOS ANGELES -- Remember three weeks ago, when the Los Angeles Clippers lost their last two games of the regular season and effectively handed over home-court advantage in the first round to the Memphis Grizzlies?

They admitted then that they shot themselves in the collective foot, but that was mostly forgotten a few days ago, when the Clippers held a 3-1 lead in this series and looked to be probable candidates to face the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals.

Now, suddenly, it looms very large, with the Clippers having dropped back-to-back contests, including one at home Friday night in a game they led by eight with eight minutes to play. Now, Sunday's 10 a.m. PT matchup in Memphis is an absolute must-win in a situation where the Clippers will be serious underdogs.

As he did when asked about losing home court at the end of the regular season, Chris Paul downplayed that part of Sunday's game when told of the ugly statistics for road teams in Game 7s.

"We've got to win," he said Friday. "This it. We could lose Game 5 and Game 6 and be OK, but Game 7 is going to be exciting. It's in Memphis, and we showed the ability to win there.

"I can't wait. You just leave it all out there. It is what it is."

The Clippers hand out printouts of selected quotes from their players and opponents after each game. They often skip over parts of the players' comments that could put the teams or the league in a bad light.

Their transcription of that Paul quote included two exclamation points, supposedly after he said "We've got to win!" and, "I can't wait!"

Watch the video here, beginning at the 0:47 mark. Does he seem happy or particularly enthusiastic when he says those phrases?

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1. This simply hasn't happened very often. It is the Clippers' fifth playoff appearance since 1976 and first since 2006. When things that don't happen do happen, celebration and excitement typically are in order. This is one of those situations.

2. Chris Paul. The Clippers' new point guard and fearless leader has proved time and again -- with this team and in previous years -- to be an ideal closer, perfect for playoff situations. He's arguably been the best closer of any star in the league this season, and fans in L.A. are well aware of it.

3. The Clippers beat Memphis, their first-round opponent, in two of three meetings this season, including a 16-point smashing in L.A. in March that was one of the team's best performances. The Clippers may not have home-court advantage, but they might at least have the matchup advantage -- albeit by a small amount.

4. Plus, San Antonio -- the Clips’ likely opponent if they get by Memphis –- isn’t a terrible team for them to face either. The squads have met three times this season: The Spurs won the first game, way back in December, by 25. But the Clippers won the third (with Tony Parker hurt) and they took San Antonio to overtime in the in-between game. It'd be unlikely that L.A. could pull off the upset, but not impossible.

5. Three key supporting-cast Clippers have 25 or more playoff starts under their belts in Kenyon Martin, Mo Williams and Caron Butler. Sure, that is in contrast to the lack of postseason experience of Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Randy Foye. But the 25-plus starts are also more than any single Memphis player can boast, so the Clippers will not be out-experienced in the first round.

6. Memphis gets its points from a variety of sources – Rudy Gay was the only Grizzlies player to average 15 or more points this season. You can’t really say that about the two-headed tandem of the Clippers, especially of late, but, in looking back at the three L.A.-Memphis matchups this year, the Clippers did a good job of spreading around the scoring. Seven current Clippers have averaged at least eight points against the Grizz this year.

7. Expectations are not all that high. If the Clippers make the second round and lose, there probably won’t be too many cries of disappointment. The refrain would be that they needed some time to get used to each other and were hurt by their new additions and injuries. They may just play loose, with a sense of nothing to lose.

8. The fact that the Clippers have to start out on the road is going to give many fans serious misgivings, and rightfully so. But at least realize this about the team's away-from-home struggles this season: They were a little bit alleviated as the year went on. It took the Clips more than a month to record a road win over a playoff-caliber team, but they started to do it more and more in March and April. You could argue that the Clippers' biggest problem won't be stealing one on the road but actually sealing down all three at home.

9. Zach Randolph. The Grizzlies forward serves as a reminder of how far this franchise has come in the last three years. Since the Clippers won the lottery 35 months ago and earned the right to select Griffin, so many things have changed. Among those changes was the status of Randolph, whom the Clippers dealt to Memphis a week after the draft. He went from being acquired by the team to being the team's leading scorer to being traded away in a matter of a half-year.

10. Remember the last time the Clippers made the playoffs, after the 2005-2006 season? It was actually a pretty good run back then. They beat the Nuggets in five games despite being on the short end of a 3-6 matchup, then gave the 2-seed Phoenix Suns a great run for their money in the Western Conference semifinals. A thing or two done differently in Game 5 that year and the Clippers might have been going against the Dallas Mavericks in the conference finals for the right to face the Miami Heat. So, strange as it seems, history might actually be something the Clippers can lean on this time around.

For all the talk about teams not caring whom they play or where they play in the postseason, there is little question that nobody in the West wanted to play the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs. Just ask the San Antonio Spurs how well that went for them last season after they finished with the best regular-season record in the league and were bounced by Memphis in six games.

The Clippers have known for some time that their first-round opponent would likely be Memphis. The only question was which team would have home-court advantage. All the Clippers had to do was win two of their last four games to secure the No. 4 seed and home court in the first round. They ended up losing three of their last four games while Memphis reeled off six straight wins to steal home court on the final night of the season.

Considering how close these two teams are on paper, home court could very well decide the series. The Clippers won their first two meetings against the Grizzlies in Los Angeles but lost their most recent meeting in Memphis 94-85 on April 9. The Grizzlies haven’t lost at home since March 18 and have won 10 straight at the FedEx Forum. Meanwhile, the Clippers closed out the season losing three straight road games and have never finished with a record at or above .500 on the road in franchise history.

Here’s a position-by-position breakdown of the Clippers-Grizzlies first-round matchup and a prediction for the series:

Point guard: This is one of the more intriguing matchups in the playoffs. Since arriving in Los Angeles in December, Chris Paul has completely changed the face of the Clippers, a team making only its fifth playoff appearance since 1976 and first since 2006. Paul is an MVP candidate this year after finishing with one of the better seasons for a point guard in recent history. He is one of two players in NBA history to have a season averaging at least 19.0 points, 9.0 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game. He ranks first in the NBA in steals per game, second in assist-to-turnover ratio and third in assists per game. Paul is the kind of player who can will his team to unlikely wins in the postseason as he single-handedly led the undermanned New Orleans Hornets to two wins over the Lakers last year, including stealing home court in the first game of the series. Meanwhile Mike Conley has continued to develop into one of the best point guards in the league. He is second only to Paul in steals and ranks in the top 10 in the league in assists. Conley finished the season by going scoreless (0-for-5 from the field) against Orlando in the regular-season finale but averaged 14.6 points and 5.2 assists on 52.9 percent shooting in 31.8 minutes in the previous five games as Memphis won six straight games to finish the season.

Advantage: Clippers

Shooting guard: Statistics don’t tell the whole story with Tony Allen, who is the heart and soul of the Grizzlies and the lynchpin of their stingy defense. Allen, who was a key player on Bostons’ 2008 championship team, recorded a franchise-record and career-high eight steals this week against Cleveland. It was tied for the most steals by an NBA player in a single game this season. What makes Allen so good is that he progressively gets better later in the game on both sides of the ball. Allen is shooting 70.0 percent from the field (14-of-20) with under three minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, which is tied for the second-highest percentage in the NBA. The Clippers counter with Randy Foye, who has played admirably since Chauncey Billups was lost for the season in February with a ruptured Achilles tendon. Foye has developed into a threat from downtown late in the season, hitting a 3-pointer in 21 straight games before failing to make a shot against Atlanta this week. It was the second-longest current streak in the NBA with at least one 3-pointer made. In the last 15 games of the regular season, Foye’s 42 3-pointers leads the NBA.

Advantage: Grizzlies

Small forward: This is probably the X factor matchup of the series. Memphis is 23-9 when Rudy Gay scores 20 or more points while the Clippers are 21-10 when Caron Butler scores 13 or more points. So basically whoever is feeling it on any particular night will give his team the best chance to win. Gay is averaging a team-high 18.9 points (18th in the NBA), a career-high 6.4 rebounds and 1.45 steals in a team-high 37.3 minutes per game (seventh in the NBA) after returning from last season’s season-ending shoulder injury. Last week he scored a season-high 32 points against Phoenix. Gay has been solid this season in the paint and from behind the arc as he’s the only player in the league with at least 100 dunks and 40 3-pointers. Butler has been streaky this season and had his worst statistical season since his second campaign in the league in 2003-04. He averaged 12.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game this season but his numbers fell off after Billups was lost for the season and he failed to record a single field goal in three games he started over last six weeks of the season.

Advantage: Grizzlies

Power forward: Mark this matchup as "subject to change" after Zach Randolph started the Grizzlies’ regular-season finale against Orlando and scored 13 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in 26 minutes. Memphis hasn’t committed to Randolph as the starter in the playoffs after compiling a 37-17 record with Marreese Speights as the starter. Speights is recording career highs this season in points and rebounds per game and free throw percentage. He scored a season-high 25 points and had a career-high 5 assists last month against the Lakers. Randolph has scored 10-plus points 19 times and 20-plus points three times, including a season-high 25 points in 25 minutes on March 16 against Toronto, which was his first game back after sustaining a torn right MCL on Jan. 1 at Chicago. Although Blake Griffin has been getting grief this season for his poor free throw shooting and his diminished numbers in the fourth quarter, he still had an outstanding sophomore season. Griffin was the only player this season to average over 20.5 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. He is also one of only two players (Dwight Howard) averaging at least 20.0 points, 10.5 rebounds and shooting 54.0 percent from the field. Griffin led the league with 190 dunks this season and was fourth with 41 double-doubles.

Advantage: Clippers

Center: He may have been known as Pau’s little brother in the past but Marc Gasol broke out from the shadow of his older brother this season after being named to his first All-Star team and having a career season. Gasol averaged 14.5 points, 9.0 rebounds (15th in the NBA), a career-high 3.2 assists and a career-best 1.84 blocks (seventh in the NBA) this season. Gasol is one of only three NBA players this season (Kevin Love and Marcin Gortat) who have put together a streak of at least 10 games with 10-plus rebounds. He also won his first career NBA player of the week award by averaging 19.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.50 blocks on 67.3 percent shooting in 36.3 minutes while leading Memphis to a perfect 4-0 record during the week of Jan. 16. DeAndre Jordan has slowly come into his own as well in his first season as a full-time starting center in the NBA. Jordan finished fourth in the league with 2.06 blocks per game and was one of only three players with at least 7.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks per game this season. He is also one of only two players (Tyson Chandler) with at least 320 field goal attempts and shooting 63.0 percent from the field. He finished third in the NBA in dunks with 141, just nine dunks behind second-place finsher JaVale McGee.

Advantage: Grizzlies

Bench: Depending on Randolph’s status as a starter, this will be an interesting matchup. Outside of Randolph or Speights, Memphis will rely on O.J. Mayo, Quincy Pondexter, Gilbert Arenas and Dante Cunningham. Mayo leads Memphis in 3-pointers made (100) and 3-point field goal percentage (.364) and is the only Grizzlies player to appear in every game this season. Mayo scored 10-plus points 46 times and 20-plus points six times, including a season-high 24 points on March 31 at Milwaukee. The Clippers will rely heavily on Mo Williams off the bench. Williams, who is a candidate for the Sixth Man of the Year award, averaged 13.4 points and 3.1 assists this season. The Clippers' bench has scored a total of 1,622 points this season, with Williams accounting for 41.7 percent of them. Nick Young, Kenyon Martin, Eric Bledsoe and Reggie Evans will also be a part of the Clippers’ rotation

Advantage: Push

Coach: Last month, Vinny Del Negro seemed to be reeling, after his team dropped three games in three days. Last week, he was being mentioned as a dark-horse pick for NBA Coach of the Year after the Clippers won 13 of 15 games. Now, after they lost three of four games to finish the season, Del Negro might have to advance past this series to keep his job next season. Such is the life of an NBA coach, it seems. Lionel Hollins’ job security is far less in doubt after leading Memphis to back-to-back playoff appearances. Since he was tabbed as head coach in January 2009, Hollins has improved Memphis’ regular-season record each season and became the franchise’s all-time winningest coach this season. Under Hollins, Memphis has become one of the best defensive teams in the league. The Grizzlies topped the NBA in steals (9.6) and forced turnovers (17.2) this season after leading each category last season. The last NBA team to lead the league in both steals per game and forced turnovers per game for consecutive seasons was the 1995-96 and 1996-97 Seattle SuperSonics.

Advantage: Grizzlies

Series prediction: Grizzlies in seven games.

LOS ANGELES -- DeAndre Jordan left the Clippers' locker room before reporters were allowed in on Wednesday night following the 113-108 loss to the Lakers, but his teammates stood up for him.

There wasn't anything he could do against Lakers center Andrew Bynum, they said, even though Bynum put up 36 points against Jordan and repeatedly outmuscled and outsmarted him in the post.

In fact, Kenyon Martin and Chris Paul both said Jordan did an "excellent" job defending Bynum.

"The kid (Bynum) is a good post player," Martin said. "DeAndre guarded him and made everything tough on him.

"That's all you can do."

Bynum hit 65 percent of his shots in Wednesday's game -- most of which came one-on-one against Jordan -- and didn't turn the ball over. And that was with a sprained ankle that had him listed as questionable before the game.

That was all Jordan, who's making roughly $10 million this season in the first year of a monstrous four-year deal, could do?

No, said Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro. Of course Jordan could have done more against Bynum and the Lakers, Del Negro said.

"But it's not just D.J -- it's everybody," he said. "We've gotta do a better job spinning him baseline, getting help for him, fighting him early and getting him off his box, his sweet spot. Bynum's a load down there -- we all know that."

"It's not just one guy, it's several."

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LOS ANGELES -- Here's Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro talking to the media following his team's 97-85 win over the New Orleans Hornets on Monday at the Staples Center.

He addresses the Clips' fast start, the boost DeAndre Jordan provided and Blake Griffin's flagrant foul in relation to the physicality of the game, among other topics.

Clippers (26-21) vs. Memphis Grizzlies (25-20) at Staples Center, 12 p.m. PT

Five storylines to track:

1. Scoring woes: One of the league’s highest scoring teams earlier in the season has had a hard time even getting close to 100 points as of late. The Clippers have now gone nine straight games without hitting the century mark and have reached 100 points in only four of their last 18 games. They are 7-12 in their last 19 games. This season, the Clippers are 16-3 when scoring over 100 points and 10-18 when scoring under the century mark. Scoring 100 points on the road has been even more critical for the Clippers who are 9-1 when scoring over 100 and 2-12 when they don’t. The Clippers ranked in the top five in points and assists through the first 30 games of the season but currently rank 14th in points and 18th in assists.

2. Losing streak: The Clippers are currently in the midst of their first three-game losing streak of the season. It is the first time since April 6-April 9, 2011 that the Clippers had dropped three in a row. Last season, the Clippers had six stretches where they lost three or more games. One of the biggest problems for the Clippers on their current losing streak is their inability to hit the long ball. Against the New Orleans Hornets on Thursday the Clippers shot 18.5 percent from the three-point line (5-of-27). Since the 1986-87 season, it is the lowest 3-point shooting percentage for the Clippers when they have attempted at least 25 shots from beyond the arc. The Clippers went 0-for-14 from the three-point line in the second half against the Hornets.

3. Jordan returns: A lightning rod for criticism at times this season has been Clippers center DeAndre Jordan. After a strong start to the season, he has been so streaky after the all-star break that Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro benched him during the fourth quarter during several games this month. Jordan has actually played better as of late despite the team’s losing streak. In the last two games, Jordan is averaging 13.0 points and 7.5 rebounds while shooting 78.5 percent (11-of-14 from the field) and going 4-of-6 from the foul line. The biggest problem for Jordan, however, has been his defense. For the first time this season, Jordan has gone two straight games without recording a block.

4. Playoffs? Playoffs?: Heading into their Feb. 18 game against the San Antonio Spurs, the Clippers were the No. 2 seed in the West and the No. 4 seed in the entire NBA. They had a 95-92 lead with 9.5 seconds left against the Spurs before Chris Paul gave the ball and the game away. Since then the Clippers are 7-12 and are just one loss separates them from being out of the playoffs. In fact, the West playoff race is so tight that only 2.5 games separate the No. 4 seed and the No. 10 seed. The Clippers have also gone from a three-game lead in the Pacific Division on the Lakers to being 3.5 games back of their Staples Center neighbors.

5. Offensive CP3: It seems if the Clippers are going to turn around their season, it will be up to Chris Paul to become more of an offensive force. In the 23 Clippers wins Paul has played in, he is averaging 22.1 points, 8.8 assists and shooting 52.2 percent from the field. In the 19 losses he has played in, Paul’s scoring has dropped nearly six points, as he is averaging 16.2 points, 8.1 assists and shooting 43.3 percent from the field. Paul normally waits for the fourth quarter to pick up his offensive production. Paul is sixth in the NBA in 4th quarter scoring average this season, and leads the league with 96 points scored in the final five minutes of games that are within four points.

Clippers (26-19) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (34-12) at Chesapeake Energy Arena, 5:00 p.m. PT

Five storylines to track:

1. Century mark: The Clippers have had a difficult time scoring over the past month. They have failed to score 100 points in seven straight games and have only hit the century mark twice in their last seven games. Their record in their last 17 games is 7-10. Suddenly one of the top five teams in the league in points and assists is in the middle of the pack and descending. Even in the two wins the Clippers had at the end of their six-game home stand last week, the Clippers averaged just 91.0 points on 40.5 percent shooting in those wins as Chris Paul made half of his 30 shots and totaled 42 points in both games.

2. Young starts: When Nick Young arrived in Los Angeles on Friday and made his debut with the team on Sunday, Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said the plan was for Young to start at some point. Well, apparently that point was 48 hours later as Young started for the Clippers against the Indiana Pacers on Tuesday. Young scored 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting in 36 minutes. He logged more minutes than any player on the team and finished with the third most points, just behind Paul, who finished with 16 points. It wasn’t a bad outing for Young but certainly went against Del Negro’s plan to bring Young along slowly.

3. Rotation confusion: One of the biggest problems for the Clippers this season is their constant roster changes have led to inconsistent rotations and many players not knowing what their role is on the team is. For example, Young was inserted as the Clippers’ starting shooting guard on Tuesday instead of Foye, who had started 28 games this season. So what did Foye do on Tuesday? He didn’t play. It was the first game he missed this season and it came because of the dreaded “DNP-Coach’s Decision.” On Sunday, one of the Clippers’ spark plugs off the bench, Eric Bledsoe, didn’t even get on the court but against Indiana he played 13 minutes. There’s certainly an argument to be made for match-ups, but there’s a bigger argument to be made for players simply not knowing what is expected of them on a nightly basis.

4. On the road again: The Clippers have now lost four of their last six road games and it will not get any easier in Oklahoma City. The Thunder have the third best home record in the NBA and registered a 14-game home winning streak earlier this season. Prior to the Thunder’s home loss against Cleveland on March 9, more than two months had elapsed between Thunder home losses. It will be a homecoming for Blake Griffin, who was born and raised in Oklahoma and played at the University of Oklahoma. Chris Paul also began his NBA career in Oklahoma City where the Hornets played for a couple seasons after Hurricane Katrina.

5. Nothing is free: There really should be another name for free-throws when the Clippers take them because they are far from a given. The Clippers as a team are shooting 68.6 percent from the charity stripe, which is second worst in the league. On Tuesday against the Pacers, the Clippers hit only 9 of their 20 free throws for a paltry 45 percent. The Clippers’ difficulty at the line should come as no surprise considering Blake Griffin (54.4 percent), DeAndre Jordan (48.1 percent) and Reggie Evans (48.3 percent) are three of the worst free-throw shooters in the league, and two of the three are usually on the court for the Clippers.

The Los Angeles Clippers were never a good defensive team. Then again, they were never really supposed to be. This team was going to live and die this season behind a high-octane offense led by Chris Paul and their ability to score points in bunches; filling up the nightly highlight shows with as many lob dunks as possible.

Lob City was built on a foundation of offensive excess and Ralph Lawler "Oh Me, Oh My's" rather than defensive X’s and O’s.

Of course, the Clippers would attempt to shore up their defensive problems as the season went along but there was always a better chance the Clippers’ offense would find a way to score more points than the opponent than the Clippers’ defense suddenly becoming a consistent force.

The one-dimensional nature of this team was doomed to catch up with them sooner or later but the Clippers never expected the wheels to completely come off midway through the season as it has. That's what happens when a team built on scoring suddenly can't score anymore.

That’s right. The Clippers, who were at least good for one thing this season, can’t even do that consistently anymore. Simply scoring 100 points has become as difficult as making a defensive stop late in games.

The Clippers’ 102-89 loss to the Indiana Pacers Tuesday night was the seventh straight game in which the Clippers have failed to score 100 points. They have only hit triple digits twice in their last 12 games. Their record in their last 17 games is 7-10.

Their inconsistent play and complete lack of creativity on offense can be traced back to Feb. 6 when Chauncey Billups was lost for the season with a ruptured Achilles tendon. Since then the Clippers are 11-12 and have gone from one of the top five teams in points and assists to a team in the middle of the pack and descending.

Outside of simply losing Billups, the biggest reason for this change has been the Clippers’ continually changing roster and the inconsistency of the team’s rotation. Since Billups’ injury, the team has cut Solomon Jones, signed Kenyon Martin, signed and later let go of Bobby Simmons, sent down and later called up Travis Leslie from the D-League and traded Brian Cook for Nick Young.

The Clippers haven’t had anything close to a consistent rotation since Billups went down and that was further highlighted against the Pacers as Young, who just joined the team on Friday and made his debut on Sunday, started the game ahead of Randy Foye. Against the Pacers, Foye, who had started 28 games this season, registered his first “DNP-Coach’s Decision” of the year. Against Detroit, Eric Bledsoe, who has given the Clippers’ spark off the bench and played 13 minutes against Indiana got a “DNP-Coach’s Decision.”

No one can figure out the rotation, let alone their role on their team. When Simmons was called up from the D-League last month, he was suddenly playing crucial minutes in the fourth quarter a few days later and defending Kevin Garnett while starting center DeAndre Jordan sat out the entire fourth quarter. Two hours after Young found out he was cleared to play on Sunday, he played 29 minutes without fully understanding the offense. Two days after his first game, he started and played 36 minutes for the Clippers in Indiana.

Perhaps the reason why newcomers are able to play so many minutes for the Clippers within hours of joining the team is the offense is as simplistic as something you’d find in a high school game. The playbook seems more like a play pamphlet when you watch the Clippers at times and that clearly isn’t lost on the rest of the league which has 45 games of film on how to curtail Lob City. It also doesn't help when three of your key players in Blake Griffin, Reggie Evans and Jordan can't hit a free-throw. Against the Pacers, the Clippers hit only 9 of 20 foul shots.

The problem is with 21 games left in the season and little to no practice time to make offensive adjustments, let alone incorporate new players, the Clippers’ offensive struggles will likely only get worse before they can get better.

There have been six mainstays in the Los Angeles Clippers rotation since the 2011-2012 season started on Christmas Day: Chris Paul, Mo Williams, Randy Foye, Caron Butler, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan.

Those six started the season with the team and continue playing in most every game. Then there are the five players the team has added into the mix since then, either by trade, free-agent signing or return from injury. In order, those are Reggie Evans, Kenyon Martin, Eric Bledsoe, Bobby Simmons and, after making his debut in Sunday's win over the Detroit Pistons, now Nick Young.

And that doesn't count mid-year additions Solomon Jones and Courtney Fortson, who both played significant minutes with the Clips before getting released and landing elsewhere.

That's a lot of new pieces to add to a puzzle, especially considering they've all joined the team over an 84-day period in which the Clippers have played 44 games. And, to make matters worse, they've all been separate additions, joining the team weeks apart from each other.

How have the Clippers done it?

"It's not easy," coach Vinny Del Negro said before Sunday's game when asked that question. "We have to do a better job incorporating and getting a feel for guys, and that's tough. But that's the situation we're in.

"You've just gotta work together a little bit better and connect a little bit more as a team, because we're incorporating all types of players and personalities and you have to manage all that."

Blake Griffin put it a little more simply.

"It feels like we add a new piece every month or so," Griffin said after Sunday's game. "It's like every month you're forced to add someone new. I don't want to say it disrupts things, but it changes things.

"We're not used to playing with a guy like Nick. He's been in L.A. for two days now, I think."

Young definitely changed the shape of Sunday's game. Because he logged 29 minutes in the victory, Williams played only 24 -- the shortest time he's been on the court in almost a month. And Bledsoe, who had played in each of the Clippers' last 15 games, didn't play at all.

That was similar to what happened when the Clippers added Simmons at the end of February. Ryan Gomes has only played three minutes since Simmons was signed.

Evans also experienced a slight downturn in minutes right after Martin made his debut in early February.

Del Negro said Sunday he tries to focus on the "rhythm of certain lineups," and that makes sense. But there obviously wasn't going to be much rhythm with Young and the rest of the players on the floor during his 29 minutes against the Pistons.

But, as Griffin said, the Clippers can help ease the transitioning process if they turn up the energy, like they did in the fourth quarter and overtime period Sunday, when they outscored Detroit 30-18. Young was on the floor for 16 of 17 possible minutes in that stretch.

Said Griffin: "The thing is, if we play hard, we can kind of erase or make up for those mistakes that we make because we're new."

Clippers (24-18) vs. Houston Rockets (24-20) at Staples Center, 12:30 p.m. PT

Five storylines to track:

1. Freefalling: The Clippers’ fall from grace continues as the team has lost 9 of their last 14 games and is 9-11 since Chauncey Billups was lost for the season last month. They usually find themselves tied or in the lead in the fourth quarter before losing late as was the case Thursday night against the Phoenix Suns where they were up 12 points in the fourth quarter before losing 91-87. The Clippers are now 8-9 in games decided by five points or less and haven’t won back-to-back games in over a month. One of the few wins the Clippers did pull out late recently was against the Houston Rockets on March 4, where they won 105-103 on the road before losing back-to-back games to Minnesota and New Jersey.

2. Billups back: After returning home to Denver for surgery on his ruptured Achilles heel, Billups will return to Staples Center for the first time since Feb. 2 to be with the Clippers. He will continue his rehabilitation with the team and plans to be with the Clippers through the rest of the season. His presence could not have come at a better time. After the Clippers blew a 17-point lead to a Suns team playing without Steve Nash and Grant Hill, the Clippers met for over an hour after the game in the locker room about the direction of the team and the lack of urgency. The Clippers, who were one of the top five teams in the NBA before Billups' injury, will now look to the veteran point guard for leadership in the locker room and on the bench.

3. Welcome Young: Just before the end of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, the Clippers made a deal to acquire Nick Young from Washington for a future second round pick and Brian Cook. Young will be at Staples Center for Saturday’s game against Houston but it is unknown if he will play. The plan is for Young to eventually start alongside Chris Paul in the backcourt and give the Clippers a 6-foot-7 scorer on the wing. The move would push Randy Foye, who had been starting in place of Billups, to the bench. The move will strengthen what had been a weak unit offensively outside of Mo Williams. Young might not help the Clippers’ porous defense but he is capable of hitting open three-pointers and at least making life more difficult for the bigger guards the Clippers couldn't match up with. Young is averaging 16.6 points per game this season in 32 starts.

4. Jordan’s decline: DeAndre Jordan finally played more than a couple seconds in the fourth quarter on Thursday for the first time since March 4. The results, however, didn’t change the outcome of the game as the Clippers shot 21.4 percent in the final period and 50 percent from the free-throw line and blew 12-point lead in the process. March has been a difficult month for Jordan who is only averaging 4.9 points and 7.4 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game. Thursday’s game against the Suns, however, was his best game since Feb. 28 as he finished with 11 points, 9 rebounds and 4 blocked shots and played close to 8 minutes in the final period.

5. Butler’s rise: After a month-long scoring slump, Caron Butler has been shooting the ball better in the last two games. Butler has averaged 13.5 points, 3 assists and 2 rebounds while shooting 50 percent (11-of-22) from the field and 75 percent (3-of-4) from long-range over the last two games. The Clippers need to get Butler going because when he scores over 13 points they are 16-8. The problem for Butler this season has been consistency. Against Minnesota on March 5, Butler failed to score for the first time in six years and went 0-of-6 from the field. One week later against the Golden State Warriors on March 12 he only scored 1 point and was again 0-of-6 from the field.

LOS ANGELES -- Here are video interviews with the Clippers' DeAndre Jordan, Reggie Evans, Chris Paul and Blake Griffin following their 91-87 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Thursday at the Staples Center. The team's locker room did not open to the media until more than an hour after the final buzzer; league rules require it open up between 10-15 minutes after a game's end.

In the first of two videos, Jordan took on a sarcastic tone following the game, joking that the Clippers did not hold a meeting for all of that time but were simply waiting for media to come in. He didn't answer seriously when asked if he thought this was the team's worst loss of the season. Also in the video is the interview with Evans, who said the Clippers need to play with more energy and talk more on defense.



In the second video is Paul, who said he almost felt as if the Clippers were trying to lose the game. He said only time will tell if the postgame meeting was effective in solving the team's problems. Also in the second video is Griffin, who was more positive in confirming the logistics of the meeting and calling it "very productive."

LOS ANGELES -- DeAndre Jordan is restless by nature.

The Los Angeles Clippers center isn’t the type to simply sit around and do nothing. Even on long team cross-country flights, he’s the edgy one who needs to constantly talk to teammates and coaches. If you aren’t awake to keep him company he’ll usually punish you by taking a picture of your drooling mug and post it on Twitter.

As much as everyone within the Clippers organization praises him for being a consummate teammate, there are probably a laundry list of things he would rather do than sit at the end of the bench during crucial situations in games and be reduced to a highly paid cheerleader.

That is largely why Jordan hasn’t been himself lately as he sits on the sidelines during the fourth quarter with a towel draped over his head and one draped over his lap and watches his fellow starters finish out games without him.

His spot is usually taken by Kenyon Martin, sometimes by Reggie Evans and on Monday night Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro even decided to guard Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett at times with swingman Bobby Simmons, who was called up from the D-League last month and hadn’t scored a point in the NBA since 2009.

“I honestly don’t know why I don’t play in the fourth quarter,” Jordan said Wednesday night after failing to play in the final period for the third straight game. “You’re going to have to ask one of the coaches. That’s the coach’s decision.”

In the Clippers’ 96-82 win over the Atlanta Hawks Wednesday night, which broke the Clippers’ two-game losing streak and three-game home losing skid, Jordan was taken out with 3:28 left in the third quarter for Evans and never saw the court again. It seemed Jordan knew he wouldn’t play again either as he put his head down and tucked a towel over his head and into his shirt.

Del Negro said there has been nothing more behind his benching of Jordan in the final period besides match-ups and how other players were performing.

“I thought DeAndre was very active tonight,” Del Negro said. “He gave us the lead but then we got into a nice rhythm with the other guys. They went small and the second unit had come in and we had a nice flow to our game so I was trying to save our guys a little bit in case we needed a run at the end. I thought the bench gave us a boost. I put Chris [Paul] and Blake [Griffin] in at the end but I thought DeAndre was active. He was good tonight and we’re going to need him to be like that. Sometimes the match-ups don’t work because teams go small. They made some adjustments and they went with four guards.”

(Read full post)

Clippers (23-17) vs. Atlanta Hawks (24-18) at Staples Center, 7:30 p.m. PT

Five storylines to track:

1. Same old story: Late game collapses have become a tired trend for the Clippers and one they simply have not been able to reverse no matter how many times they talk about it after losing close games. They are now 4-8 in their last 12 games and have been tied or in the lead in nearly every one of those contests. They are 8-8 in games decided by 5 points or less and 8-10 since losing Chauncey Billups for the season last month. They are a team that simply looks lost down the stretch at the end of games and the confidence they once had late in close games has completely disappeared.

2. Bad streaks: The Clippers haven’t lost three straight games this season and haven’t lost four straight at home in two years. Both streaks are in play as the Clippers play the Hawks Wednesday night and try to break out of a funk they’ve been in for over a month now. From Jan. 1-Feb.16, the Clippers didn’t lose back-to-back games and won consecutive games on six occasions, including a four-game winning streak and two three-game winning streaks. Since Feb. 18, however, the Clippers have failed to win back-to-back games and have lost consecutive games three times. “I can't stand to lose. It's not acceptable," Chris Paul said Monday. “We talked about it after the game; that everybody has got to do their part. We're going to watch film and figure it out.”

3. Jordan problems: DeAndre Jordan smiled when he was asked about his offensive struggles this week, saying that he always struggles offensively but the month of March has been particularly bad for the Clippers’ center. He’s been averaging 3.8 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game in March and has rarely seen the court in the fourth quarter. Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said Jordan's energy level has been an issue but is hopeful his 13 rebounds against Boston, his most since February, will help get him back on track. “I thought he was very active. He probably should have played more,” Del Negro said Monday. “When [Boston] went small in the second half it was hard because we were struggling to score. But I did like DeAndre’s activity and his energy was very good. That’s what we need from him every night.”

4. Trade deadline: Wednesday night’s game against Atlanta is the last game before Thursday’s trade deadline and while the Clippers say they are content with the roster they currently have, Del Negro and Clippers gernal manager Neil Olshey said they will not hesitate to make a move that will improve the team. The most likely players to be included in a deal would be point guard Eric Bledsoe, a future first-round pick and the expiring contracts of Randy Foye and/or Brian Cook. Such a package could net the Clippers a veteran shooting guard to replace Billups such Boston's Ray Allen, Portland's Jamal Crawford or Washington's Nick Young but no deal seems imminent at the moment.

5. Billups back: Since he was lost for the season last month with a ruptured Achilles tendon, Chauncey Billups’ jersey has hung in the Clippers’ locker room on game days, home and away. Billups will actually be sitting his locker room this week as he is expected to return to the team Wednesday and be on the sideline for the game against Atlanta as he continues his rehab in Los Angeles. While he will not be able to play again this season, just his presence in the locker room and on the bench could help the Clippers as they try to break out of the funk they’ve been in since Billups left. “Hopefully he can help cheer us on when he's here,” Paul said. “I hope he can help.”