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Loss Is the Latest Rage for Dunleavy

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Times Staff Writer

Their season on the verge of slipping into darkness, the Clippers staged a frantic late rally Monday night, but all it got them was more heartache.

A last-second three-point shot by Rick Brunson glanced off the rim and the Clippers, despite scoring 13 of the game’s last 16 points, lost to the Memphis Grizzlies, 105-102, in front of 15,754 at Staples Center.

An 11-0 run had brought the Clippers to within 102-100, but the Grizzlies made three of four free throws in the last 13 seconds to saddle the Clippers with their 11th loss in 14 games. They’re also 3-11 this season in games decided by three points or fewer.

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A little more than a month after they’d rallied from an 18-point deficit to defeat the Grizzlies, they had nearly wiped out a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit.

And Coach Mike Dunleavy could barely stomach it.

“What disappoints me about the game we have tonight,” he said afterward, opening a bitter critique of his team’s second consecutive loss, “is that the urgency we play with once we get down [14] points, all of a sudden ... we do everything right, our coverages are sharp, they’re crisp, we don’t make mistakes, we get out, we shut them down, and I’m wondering, ‘Where is that prior?’

”... It gets frustrating from the standpoint of where we are. I don’t want to hear about [our] injuries. I don’t care about injuries. We have to win games, and for anybody that wants to be here, they need to check themselves at the door right now as far as mentally being prepared and ready to go, making the right plays, the right decisions, because you’re being continuously graded.

“And I’m really disappointed.”

Six players scored in double figures for the Grizzlies, who, despite having three regulars sidelined because of injuries, among them scoring and rebounding leader Pau Gasol, extended their winning streak to four games.

They rallied from a five-point halftime deficit, outscoring the Clippers by 12 in the third quarter, and led by 14 with less than 10 minutes to play.

But from the time Mike Miller scored on a driving layup to give the Grizzlies a 95-82 lead with 5:13 to play until Quinton Ross scored on a tip-in to bring the Clippers to within 104-102 with 7.2 seconds remaining, the Clippers made nine of 11 shots.

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Still, after their rally fell short, Dunleavy unloaded.

“You cannot win in this league without being mentally tough, without a high IQ for this game,” he said. “I’m talking about a level I want to play at; I want to play at a championship level. You can’t just be an athlete on the floor. You can’t just run up and down the floor and look good. You’ve got to be tough, mentally tough and physically tough.”

Former Clipper Lorenzen Wright scored 23 points to lead the Grizzlies, two nights after former Clipper Earl Boykins had helped the Denver Nuggets dim the Clippers’ fading playoff hopes.

Corey Maggette made 11 of 18 shots, 13 of 16 free throws and led the Clippers with 37 points, one shy of his career high, but his defensive lapses may have triggered Dunleavy’s ire. Afterward, in an unusual move for him, Maggette exited the locker room through a rear door without talking to reporters. Bobby Simmons scored 19 points, Elton Brand 17.

At the end, though, the ball was in Brunson’s hands.

“The last play, there’s a number of options,” Dunleavy said. “Obviously, we needed a three-point play. We were trying to get the first good look we could get out of it. ... We just didn’t get it done.”

Brunson’s miss was rebounded by Brand, who passed out to Maggette on the left wing. His buzzer-beating shot missed too, but his feet were on the three-point line anyway. It would have counted for only two points.

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