Back-to-back afternoon games proved to be too much for Clippers

The Clippers took the floor for Sunday’s game against Miami less than 21 hours after they trudged out of the Staples Center following Saturday’s game against Memphis. They lost both games, and their exhaustion showed.

The team will play on consecutive days 14 times this season, but this weekend’s back-to-back games — the team’s first of the season — are the only ones that were both scheduled as matinees. Clippers coach Doc Rivers is thankful for that because he says afternoon starts are difficult for players who have been accustomed to playing at night since high school.

“We’re creatures of habit. And you have the whole day to kind of get your habits down,” he said. “When you throw that afternoon game in, all your habits are gone. You wake up in the morning, you’re at the game.”

The Clippers didn’t wake up until the fourth period Sunday, when they erased a 23-point deficit to take the lead with 2:55 to play. It was their first lead since the second minute.

Contrast that with the first three quarters they largely slept through, committing 12 turnovers and shooting just 32.8% from the field.

“You wake up, you can be having a bad day and you can get through the day and get your head right to get ready for the game,” Rivers said. “If you have an afternoon game and you start off bad, it usually ends bad as far as the game goes.”

The Clippers lost Danilo Gallinari after he suffered a bruised hip midway through the second period. The forward, who started Sunday and is leading the team in minutes played, isn’t sure when he’ll be back.

“I can barely walk,” Gallinari said before hobbling out of the locker room. “I’ve been having pain the past two or three games and now it’s getting to a point where I’m having problems walking so I’ve got to take care of it.”

Gallinari, who is averaging 13.6 points and five rebounds a game, said he aggravated the injury when he went to the floor three times in the first period. He plans to accompany the team on its three-game road trip.

Be free with the threes

The Clippers, who made more than 36% of their three-point shots last season, hit just 13 of 57 attempts in their last two games, both losses. And Rivers said the best way to remedy that is to take more shots, not fewer.

“As long as they’re good shots,” he said. “We had good shots that we missed. I don’t mind that. If we have 50 threes a night and they’re wide open, take 60. If they’re open, if they’re your shot, you should always take them.

“The basketball gods will bless you at some point.”

Johnson recalled

Before Sunday’s game the Clippers recalled forward Brice Johnson from the Agua Caliente Clippers of the NBA G League. Johnson, 23, was in uniform for the game against the Heat but did not play.