Clippers drop fourth in a row as defensive struggles continue

Without healthy bodies, the Clippers have been foundering. Without a staunch defense, the Clippers have been staggering.

They got Chris Paul back — albeit with a 30-minute playing restriction — after he missed the previous three games because of a strained left hamstring. And they didn’t lose center DeAndre Jordan following his car accident Tuesday in Playa del Rey.

But a once vaunted Clippers defense remains unstable, their inability to get key stops in the fourth quarter leaving them with a 102-98 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night at the Smoothie King Center.

“We’ve got to fix it,” said Clippers Coach Doc Rivers, whose team has a season-high four-game losing streak. “I’ve been saying this too much, and that’s been our Achilles’ heel. We started out the year in the top of the league in transition ‘D’ (defense) and now we’re at the bottom. So that’s something that we have to fix.”

That poor Clippers defense put them in a 10-point hole in the fourth quarter.

But they climbed back out, and with 13.9 seconds left they had the ball trailing, 101-98.

After a timeout to set up a play, Paul remained on the bench. He had played 30 minutes, 37 seconds and Rivers said “he wasn’t going to play anymore” because Paul was on the 30-minute restriction.

After Paul had gotten his hamstring stretched out long after the game was over, he said he felt “all right.”

“I was hoping I could (be in the game), but given my minutes restriction, we had to think long term,” said Paul, who had 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists. “It was very difficult. But at the same time, as I said, we have to start looking big-picture. I was OK. It felt good to get back out on the court.”

So with Paul not on the court to run the show on that last-gasp offensive possession, the Clippers had Marreese Speights take a game-tying three-pointer.

He missed.

“I felt like I should have shot it a little higher,” said Speights, who got four stitches on the side of his left eye after being elbowed by Tyreke Evans. “I thought it was good, though.”

Jordan was a force for the Clippers, his double-double triggered by his 25 rebounds that went along with 13 points. He produced his double-double in the first quarter, becoming the only player in the NBA to accomplish that feat in the opening 12 minutes by getting 10 points and 11 rebounds.

New Orleans Coach Alvin Gentry wasn’t around to see his team beat the Clippers because he picked up two technical fouls in the second quarter and was ejected from the game.

But for the Clippers, it was about rediscovering a defense that allowed New Orleans to make 50% of its shots in the final quarter.

“Our defense has got to be better,” Paul said. “That’s no secret to any of us. We’ve got to be able to get stops. We haven’t been doing that.”

broderick.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @BA_Turner