When Blake Griffin tumbles, it can be rough on Clippers and their fans

It hasn’t reached the point of Clippers fans covering their eyes and wincing whenever Blake Griffin hits the floor or lands out of bounds.

At least the rookie hasn’t crashed over the scorer’s table at Staples Center this preseason, as he did about a year ago.

But concern cranked up to, oh, say threat-level “blue” when Griffin landed hard on the court early in the fourth quarter Saturday. He appeared to do a quick inventory of body parts, left the game and had a quick word with team trainer Jasen Powell on the sideline.

“I caught one in the ribs and kind of had to collect myself and catch my breath first,” said Griffin, who missed all of last season because of a stress fracture in his left kneecap. “I’m good. He was just asking. I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m all right.’ ”

Coach Vinny Del Negro was talking about that very issue earlier in the day before the Clippers’ game against the Utah Jazz.

“You better get used to it,” Del Negro said. “He’s going to be crashing to the ground. It’s just the way he plays and just the way his personality is.”

Griffin did return with just under five minutes remaining and looked reasonably intact, retaining his trademark explosiveness. He finished with 17 points, 14 rebounds and four turnovers in the Clippers’ 103-91 loss at Staples Center.

Utah, which was without star guard Deron Williams and center Mehmet Okur, handed the Clippers their fifth defeat in six exhibition games. The Jazz, 5-0 in the preseason for the first time in franchise history, got 46 points from its bench, to 22 for the Clippers’ reserves.

The Clippers have given up 100 or more points in all but one of their exhibitions and continue to unravel in the third quarter, following the pattern of Tuesday against San Antonio in Mexico City and Thursday against Denver. And Saturday there was the issue of 28 turnovers.

“We’ve just got to find a way to discipline ourselves in the second half,” said the Clippers’ Eric Gordon, who scored a game-high 23 points. “It’s not just this year. It’s been like that since I’ve been here. I guess we have to run different things in the second half, in the third quarter. Something just has to be a little different.”

Said Ryan Gomes: “We’ve been coming out the first quarters playing well. But you look at the third quarters of the last three games and it’s not been what we wanted it to be. . . . We dug ourselves a big hole and we wasted time in that third quarter to set the tone on how the second half should have been played.”

Del Negro was asked whether he thought the team was more behind the curve than he would have figured at this point of the exhibition season.

“I think we’re going to be behind for a little while,” he said. “New staff. New system. Some new players. A lot of young guys. . . . You can’t make excuses. You’ve just got to grind it out and work every day.”

Etc.

Craig Smith returned after missing two games because of an injured back. He played nearly 19 minutes and had six points, three rebounds and four turnovers. “It’s always tough playing that first game,” he said. “It was a little bit sore. Just got to continue to get through it. Each day is going to get better and better.” . . . Del Negro praised reserve center Jarron Collins: “Jarron knows to play. He played in Utah eight years, takes charges, knows how to play, a great teammate. He’s done a nice job for us.”

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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