Powell’s now in the running

Try hibernating for a while, then get shaken awake and be told to run a marathon.

That’s how it is for Clippers forward Josh Powell right now, life in the fast lane.

Powell, a forward from North Carolina State, spent much of this season on the bench but is now entrenched in the Clippers’ rotation.

With Paul Davis out for the season because of a ligament injury and Aaron Williams dealing with the lingering effects of a bruised wrist, Powell has stepped in as center Chris Kaman’s lone backup.

It’s more out of necessity, although the 6-foot-9 Powell has shown that he is capable of bringing needed energy off the bench.

He has played in the last 14 games, hauling in 62 rebounds in 189 minutes. The playing time comes after Powell did not play in 12 games and was inactive for five others. The Clippers signed him in August to a three-year contract with a team option in the third season.

“Right now defense, hustle and rebounding, all the things you see,” Powell said of what he adds to the team. “Offensive-wise, that will come.”

Gradually it seems, with Powell shooting 34% from the field.

Like Davis and rookie Al Thornton, who has received more minutes as the season has worn on, Powell said he is feeling more comfortable with the additional playing time.

“He’s probably more capable offensively than he’s shown, but that’s probably something you’ve got to bring along at an even pace and let it happen naturally,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said.

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Of concern are the recent shooting struggles of guard Quinton Ross and forward Tim Thomas from three-point range.

Ross has not made a field goal in six games and is 0 for 13 in that span.

“I’m getting good looks; for whatever reason they aren’t going down the way I want them to,” said Ross, who is shooting 43.4% in his career. “I’m just going to keep getting the same looks and shoot the ball. They’ll go in eventually.”

“He kind of gets stuff out of the flow,” Dunleavy said. “That’s not as big of a concern for me. Some of it has also been, [Ross] hasn’t gotten the minutes at times because we’ve gotten behind in a few games, so we’ve gone with more offense.”

Thomas, 36.9% from three-point distance in his career, is two for his last 18 from beyond the arc.

“Basically he hasn’t shot the ball well from the three, so we’ve been trying to run more plays for him in post-ups and trying to get him more stuff that way until he plays his way through it,” Dunleavy said.

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Brevin Knight, a New Jersey native, wore New York Giants socks before the game Monday and hung a Michael Strahan jersey in his locker in honor of the team’s NFC championship win.

Guard Guillermo Diaz asked Knight whether he planned to wear the socks during the game, and when told Knight would be fined a high price if he did, Diaz joked: “I’m going to make sure all of my things have an NBA logo. Even if they don’t, I’ll put a fake logo on there.”

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jonathan.abrams@latimes.com