Clippers carry a three-game losing streak as they hit the road for three games

Veteran guard Jamal Crawford was feeling uneasy after the Clippers lost their third straight game to a team with a losing record Monday night, 106-102, to the Denver Nuggets in Staples Center.

“It’s weird, because I haven’t been on a losing team in a while now, probably eight or nine years, so even losing three in a row gives me the chills,” Crawford said. “I don’t ever want to go back to that. It’s just three games, but it’s a reminder that in this league, you have to bring it every single night.”

Crawford’s memory was a bit off. It has actually been five years since he last played on a losing team, when his Portland Trail Blazers went 28-38 during a lockout-shortened 2011-2012 season. But his point was well-taken.

The Clippers (22-11) are in fourth place in the Western Conference, but these are turbulent times for a club that has won 52 games or more in each of Crawford’s first four seasons in Los Angeles.

They played Monday night without their three leading scorers, forward Blake Griffin and guards Chris Paul and J.J. Redick, who have combined for an average of 54.2 points, 15.8 rebounds and 15.3 assists a game this season.

Griffin is expected to be out until at least late-January because of right-knee surgery. Paul, who has missed three games because of a left-hamstring strain, and the sharp-shooting Redick, who has a sore left hamstring, are both listed as questionable for Wednesday night’s game at New Orleans.

And the Clippers are staring at a three-game road trip in which they will face three of the NBA’s top four scorers, Pelicans forward Anthony Davis (29.6 points a game), Houston guard James Harden (27.5) Friday night, and Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook (31.7) Saturday night.

“They’re tougher when you’re shorthanded, and they’re tougher on the road, but we know what’s coming,” Coach Doc Rivers said of the trio of prolific scorers the Clippers will face. “The great thing when you play those guys is you actually know they’re coming, you get ready for them.

“It’s the other guys that you have to stop. If it was easy to stop Westbrook or Harden or Davis, everyone would do it, and they wouldn’t be great players. We have a game plan to try to contain them, but we’re really trying to stop everyone else.”

The Clippers started DeAndre Jordan, Luc Mbah a Moute, Crawford, Austin Rivers and Wesley Johnson against the Nuggets, a lineup that played just one minute together before Monday.

The group looked a little disjointed in the first half, especially during a second quarter in which the Clippers were outscored, 40-23. There was too much one-on-one play, not enough ball movement and too many forced passes that led to turnovers.

The Clippers found some rhythm and energy in the third period, erased all of a 17-point halftime deficit and built a seven-point lead with about eight minutes left before wilting down the stretch.

“There are no moral victories,” said Austin Rivers, who scored 19 points in a season-high 42 minutes. “We really did compete … but up six or seven with five minutes left, we should have won that game.”

Asked what the Clippers might take away from Monday’s game, Crawford, who scored 24 points in a season-high 36 minutes, said, “That we’re tired of losing, to be honest. Three in a row, for us, no matter what.… Our margin for error is slim.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeDiGiovanna