Clippers take another serious fall

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Chris Kaman stood a greater chance of jostling for better position in the paint.

In the cramped confines of the visitors’ training room at FedExForum, Kaman stood and stared, in search of space on the two athletic trainer tables. Corey Maggette and Sam Cassell each stretched on a table, while Tim Thomas received treatment in a nearby chair.

Without Kaman’s services, the depleted Clippers lost, 125-120 in overtime, to the depleted Memphis Grizzlies on Saturday night, their seventh road loss in a row.

“That was a tough game,” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “It came down to the wire, a couple of missed shots, missed free throws, rebounds, one bounce one way or the other and it’s a different ballgame for us.”

It’s pretty tough to win a game without leading once in the first four quarters.

The Clippers (13-27) almost managed it. They took the lead three times in the overtime period, but could not sustain it when the Grizzlies responded by outscoring them, 11-3, in the last 1 minute 23 seconds.

The Clippers return home for two games -- and also to learn whether their front-office feud has cooled off or is still simmering -- before embarking on their longest trip of the season.

And their last man standing fell.

Kaman, the only Clipper to play in every game this season, sat out because of a left shin bruise suffered during the team’s loss to the New Orleans Hornets on Friday.

“Right now, it’s just really stiff, really sore,” Kaman said. “I can’t really put a lot of weight on it. I went out and tested it before and it wasn’t going to work. Now, I’ve got a couple days until the next game, so hopefully I’ll be good with the trainers.”

The training staff worked on Kaman, among others, for more than an hour before the game and the ultimate result was a no-go. Kaman is day to day.

His 17.2 points and 13.9 rebounds were missing in action.

The domino effect shoved Aaron Williams, who sat out the previous 17 games because of a bruised wrist, into the starting lineup for only the second time this season.

He and Josh Powell combined for four points and three rebounds in 31 minutes. Dunleavy used Thomas at center much of the game, and he scored 23 points on 10-for-13 shooting.

“Without Chris we tried to make it a smaller game and take size out of it a little bit, play smaller,” Dunleavy said.

Maggette scored a season-high 35 points, 16 from the free-throw line, and also grabbed nine rebounds, and Cassell scored 25 points.

“They just played together tonight,” Maggette said. “Both teams played really hard. But only one team can win, and they finished it up.”

It wasn’t as if the Grizzlies had a full complement of players. The Clippers did not go against Pau Gasol (sore back) for a second time, and rookie point guard Mike Conley is sidelined because of a bruised chest.

In their absence, Rudy Gay set a career high with 34 points and also collected 12 rebounds. Four other Grizzlies scored in double figures.

“Rudy Gay was pretty strong,” Dunleavy said. “He made a lot of tough shots. He started the game filling it up and down the stretch made big shots.”

Not surprisingly, the Grizzlies out-rebounded the Clippers, 43-34.

The crowd of 11,072 was so sparse that the loudest cheers came from a contingent of three Clippers fans a couple of rows behind their bench.

And how quiet was it, on ‘70s Night here, no less?

They yelled out Dunleavy’s play numbers after he did, just in case a player didn’t hear it. When Dunleavy called “45,” which resulted in a ball lost out of bounds, one screamed in agony: “That can’t be 45.”

The Clippers previous road win came against the Grizzlies (13-31), more than a month ago, 98-91.

jonathan.abrams@latimes.com