Clippers go cold at bad time

The Clippers reserves -- in some cases, all three of them -- have adopted a new tradition this season of standing slightly off to the corner until their teammates score.

All giving new meaning to the phrase “stand up and be counted.”

It’s a good thing they don’t do it to start each quarter because it would have been a particularly tough wait Monday night. Not tough in terms of mere time but painful in watching a fourth quarter of a seemingly winnable game slip away.

Although any old 9-0 run isn’t always necessarily costly, it was Monday night as Portland used it as a springboard to defeat the undermanned Clippers, 113-88, at Staples Center

The Clippers (10-34) went 3 minutes 18 seconds before scoring in the fourth quarter when Steve Novak made a three-point basket, and by then, a 77-73 Trail Blazers lead had grown to 86-76.

Brandon Roy led Portland (27-17) with 33 points, Greg Oden scored 16 and Travis Outlaw came off the bench to contribute 20.

For the Clippers, Al Thornton scored 23 points, Novak had a career-high 21 and Fred Jones had a season-high 19.

“I think we just ran out of gas,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “The guys played well and played well together for three quarters. Ricky Davis wasn’t available in the second half and pretty much cut us down to seven guys.”

It was an all-too-familiar story for the injury-riddled Clippers, who have won only twice in their last 18 games. They were already woefully thin and became even more so when Davis was limited to 6:15 because of knee troubles.

You might say that isn’t exactly a negative since Davis has been one of the biggest disappointments of the season for the Clippers.

Still, a body is a body.

One returning player was Brian Skinner, who had sat out the previous two games because of flu.

He was asked about trying to hold it together during a difficult stretch of a most difficult season.

“Perseverance,” Skinner said. “We’ve got a mixture of veteran guys with younger guys and guys that are just going to come out and play hard, regardless of the circumstances and the situation. We’ve got guys who are still going to come out and play hard and still want to win.”

These days, the Clippers at times don’t even have enough bodies for a full-fledged practice.

“Cheikh [Samb] comes in games and he hears names and one day he might know it, and it’s hard,” Dunleavy said. “Timing on plays and specialty stuff. Just even the coverages you would run through on the team you are going to play so guys can recognize it on the floor.

“You walk through it, but at full speed, it’s just not the same.”

The injuries have created some additional questions for the Clippers, who will soon have to make a decision on Jones.

Call him Last Chance Fred.

Actually, second-to-last chance for Jones, who is on his final 10-day contract with the Clippers. He’ll have one more shot, Wednesday, to convince the Clippers to keep him the rest of the season.

“I’m trying to do what I can,” he said before the game. “It’s out of my hands. Of course, I’d be lying if I said it isn’t something I think about. It’s your livelihood.”

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lisa.dillman@latimes.com