Five takeaways from the Clippers’ 102-98 loss to New Orleans

1. To many, Clippers Coach Doc Rivers faced a quagmire in the final few seconds of his team’s suddenly tense game against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night.

If he actually had even any small temptation to push the boundaries for Chris Paul, Rivers resisted the notion to extend his points guard’s minutes when the game hung in the balance of an eventual 102-98 loss to the Pelicans.

The Clippers had rallied from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter and had gotten a defensive stop with 13.6 seconds left, trailing by three points.

At this moment, Paul had played 30 minutes, 37 seconds, already surpassing the under 30-minute restriction the Clippers had placed on him in his first game back after missing the previous three with a strained left hamstring.

Instead of having Paul direct the show and possibly even take the final shot, he sat on the bench and watched.

The ball wound up in Marreese Speights’ hands for a game-tying three-pointer that he missed with 1.4 seconds remaining.

Rivers said “it didn’t matter” that there were so few seconds left because Paul “wasn’t going to play anymore.”

“One step and he hurts [the hamstring] and then you’re yelling at me for keeping him on the floor,” Rivers said. “I can’t win.”

With the Clippers playing at the Houston Rockets on Friday night, Rivers was asked if Paul would play.

“I think so,” Rivers replied.

2. Wesley Johnson started for the second consecutive game this season, but he didn’t exactly have a good outing. Johnson missed six of the seven shots he took, finishing with just two points.

He did have eight rebounds.

3. It was a tough night for Clippers super-sub Jamal Crawford. Crawford had an off night, going three-for-15 from the field.

He had just seven points.

4. Paul did make a bit history during his time against the Pelicans. He got one steal, giving him 1,862 steals over his career. Paul subsequently passed Isiah Thomas (1,861 steals) for No. 15 on the NBA’s all-time steals list.

5. The Clippers lost to yet another team under .500. It has been an ongoing thing this season for them.

Out of their 12 losses, nine have been against teams that don’t have a winning record.

Besides the Pelicans, the Clippers have lost to sub-.500 teams Detroit, Indiana twice, Brooklyn, Washington, Dallas, the Lakers and Denver.

“I can’t worry about that,” Rivers said. “Listen. We’re not 100% [healthy]. I don’t really care. Listen. We’re playing really well against good teams, so there’s a silver lining against good teams.”

broderick.turner@latimes.com

Twitter:@BA_Turner