Five takeaways from the Clippers’ 107-97 loss to Houston

You could call it a scheduled loss considering the Clippers were coming off a defeat in San Antonio the previous night and lacked any semblance of energy, but that would be making excuses for what transpired Saturday night at the Toyota Center during a 107-97 defeat against the Houston Rockets that the Clippers acknowledged was all on them. They had no energy, looked out of sorts and seemed resigned to accept that they’re not a very good team afterward. Here are five takeaways from the game:

1) The first play of the game set the tone

Trevor Ariza slipped behind the Clippers’ defense for a layup eight seconds into the game and the Clippers never really recovered in falling behind by 21 points in the first quarter. “I think they came out with the idea and the mind-set to take the fight to us and they wanted to be the aggressors, they wanted to get in our airspace and I think they did that,” Clippers forward Blake Griffin said. “By the time we looked up and tried to turn it around, we were in too deep of a hole, so we have to understand that’s going to happen, especially coming off a back to back, they’re at home. We have to be more prepared.” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said he considered removing his starters early in the game but left them in because he thought his team might be able to pull out a victory after it rallied in the second and third quarters.

2) The parade of intentional fouls worked, to an extent

Dwight Howard made five of 10 free throws in those situations and Clint Capela two of six. Houston removed Howard at one point for about 1 1/2 minutes and reinserted him only to remove him again seven seconds later after the Clippers wrapped him up once more. Houston briefly hacked Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, who missed two free throws before being removed for the final 3:34 of the first half. The Clippers trailed by 21 points when they started the strategy and were down by only 11 at halftime. “I hate it but we had to do it,” Rivers said. “It actually got us back into the game and took the rhythm” out of the game.

3) Austin Rivers likely out for an extended period with a severely sprained ankle

He had to be helped off the court after sustaining what his father said was either a second- or third-degree sprain. “If it’s a second-degree then you’re out for a while,” Doc Rivers said. “I mean, I don’t know how long. I don’t even want to say weeks or something but you’d rather have a first-degree. I just learned that 10 minutes ago, I didn’t know that.” Rivers’ absence will mean more ball-handling duties for Pablo Prigioni, Lance Stephenson and Jamal Crawford.

4) The Clippers do not look like contenders 28 games into the season

“Being how our team was last year,” Clippers point guard Chris Paul said, “I think we’re behind as far as figuring out that trust and stuff like that, so we’ve just got to keep building.” The having-all-these-new-guys excuse doesn’t fly anymore either, according to Griffin. “This is the point in the season where it’s too late to keep saying, ‘OK, well we’ve got to figure it out,’” Griffin said. “We’ve got to be better than this. We are better than this and we’re not showing it, so we’ve got to figure something out.”

5) The Clippers need a marquee victory

Defeating Oklahoma City, their next opponent on Monday night at Staples Center, would qualify. “It’s always nice to win on your home floor against a top team and obviously OKC is one of the top teams out there as well,” Clippers shooting guard Jamal Crawford said. “For us, we just want as many wins as possible and then we’ll look back and figure out [which] ones were the big ones.” The Clippers (16-12) have logged only five of their victories against teams with winning records, not exactly enough to make anyone consider them a team to beat. Said Griffin: “We haven’t won any big games and we haven’t won any games that you go into them thinking, OK, this is one we have to get. I feel like we’ve lost all those games. We’ve won some games I think we should have won, but we have to be better than that if we expect to be a playoff team and a team that contends.”

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