Clippers have become more resilient as they take things one game at a time

The Clippers packed their silver linings playbook for the last long trip of the regular season.

Fade in the final minutes of a loss to the San Antonio Spurs? No worries.

It almost felt as if it never happened a day later, the way the Clippers handled the final portion of their Texas two-step against the Houston Rockets.

“This morning we didn’t watch one second of film on San Antonio,” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said late Wednesday night after his team dismantled the Rockets, 122-106, at Toyota Center. “We went right to Houston and focused on them and came out with the win. Now we have to forget about this game and focus on Memphis.”

The one-game-at-a-time sound bite may bore sportswriters and fans, but it has become a mantra for the Clippers. It’s had to be that way with star power forward Blake Griffin sidelined since Christmas by hand and quadriceps injuries.

Player availability has varied on almost a daily basis. Paul Pierce was back Wednesday after sitting out the previous three games because of a sore right big toe. Luc Mbah a Moute and Austin Rivers have also missed chunks of time recently.

The Clippers have forged ahead regardless of the circumstances, the schedule pausing for no one. It’s an approach that has helped them quickly slough away clunkers such as their fourth quarter against the Spurs on Tuesday.

“We couldn’t wait to play again,” said Austin Rivers, part of a bench that combined for 47 points against the Rockets while more than doubling its output from the previous night. “This morning we were all talking about getting a chance to play again.”

The Clippers’ triumph over Houston boosted their record to 7-0 on the second night of back-to-back situations since Griffin last played. They were 2-5 in those situations with Griffin in the lineup.

They’re clearly not better without Griffin, but they may have become more resilient.

“We’ve become a grinding team,” Doc Rivers said. “You just have to hang in there and find a way to win. There’s no guarantee what lineup we’re going to have on the floor. I think that’s helped our team as well and so I think they adjust well to back-to-backs. They don’t worry about them.”

Still mad about it

There was a touch of March Madness in the Clippers’ locker room after their game against the Rockets. A local reporter asked Houston native DeAndre Jordan about the possibility of his alma mater, Texas A&M, advancing to an NCAA tournament regional in Anaheim, stirring some painful memories about a controversial ending.

“The last time we were in Anaheim, we got cheated,” Jordan said, referring to the Aggies’ 51-49 loss to UCLA in a second-round game in 2008. “Ask Darren Collison and [Arron] Afflalo. They fouled Donald Sloan, I’m pretty sure.”

Jordan was then reminded that Mbah a Moute also played for that UCLA team that defeated the Aggies, prompting Jordan to glance across the locker room.

“Luc, you were on that team where y’all cheated, ain’t that right?” Jordan yelled.

Responded Mbah a Moute: “Cheated? What do you mean cheated? We whooped y’all’s …”

Etc.

Jordan, on trying to avoid being the last player in the locker room after victories so he doesn’t have to dance as part of the team’s postgame ritual: “It’s every man for himself when the buzzer hits. I’m Usain Bolt out of the blocks.” … The Clippers did not practice Thursday.

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Twitter: @latbbolch