Road Tests Won’t Make It Easy to Stop Losing Streak

This is not where the Clippers wanted to be in the Western Conference standings at this point.

After another close-but-no-cigar loss, Friday night to the Washington Wizards, they’ve dropped their last four games to fall a season-high four games below .500 for the second time in the last three weeks.

The first time, they won five of their next six games. They were 4-0 at Staples Center and 10 days ago won at Memphis, opening an eight-game trip by rallying from an 18-point third-quarter deficit to surprise the Grizzlies. Then came their last four games -- losses by two, two, five and three points.

This time, they’ve dropped into a tie for 10th in the West, caught by the surging Denver Nuggets, and the schedule is not so kind. They’ve got three more games to go on this trip and, after the All-Star break, a Feb. 23 game at Phoenix.

“It’s really a shame, in my mind, for the quality of game we’ve played most of the time to be in the position we’re in,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “That part of it is frustrating.”

On the plus side, the Clippers should soon be as close to at full strength as they’ve been all season, perhaps as early as tonight’s game against the Toronto Raptors.

Shaun Livingston, sidelined since suffering a dislocated right knee during a Nov. 23 practice, was activated Saturday. The rookie point guard was replaced on the injured list by Kerry Kittles, who returned Saturday to Los Angeles to seek treatment for a degenerative disk in his lower back.

But Marko Jaric, who played 34 minutes Friday before sitting out the last six because of a sore right foot, is listed as questionable for tonight’s game. Jaric was reactivated last month after sitting out 17 games because of a stress fracture in his right foot, but the Clippers said the latest injury was unrelated.

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TONIGHT

at Toronto, 3 PST

Site -- Air Canada Centre.

Radio -- KTLK (1150).

Records -- Clippers 23-27, Raptors 20-31.

Record vs. Raptors -- 1-0.

Update -- The Raptors, all but out of the Eastern Conference playoff race, also have lost their last four games and are struggling amid reports that Coach Sam Mitchell has lost control of the team. They lost to the Clippers in November at Staples Center, 101-89, despite 21 points from Vince Carter, since traded. Jalen Rose has averaged 16.7 points and Chris Bosh 15.6.