The official version is, Doc Rivers is irked at refs after Clippers’ 100-99 loss to Thunder

Doc Rivers lingered for a few seconds as his players trudged off the court Monday night, repeatedly pointing at the referees.

He was upset with the lack of foul calls on a few key plays, including one after Chris Paul had stolen an inbounds pass and made a layup to give the Clippers a momentary lead in the final seconds against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Alas, there was nothing Rivers could do about the officiating or Kevin Durant, whose 19-foot pull-up jumper over Luc Mbah a Moute with 5.8 seconds left gave the Thunder a wild 100-99 victory.

Paul tried to counter with a jumper in the final second that was blocked by Durant, giving the Clippers a third consecutive defeat.

The Clippers (16-13) dropped to 0-4 against Golden State, San Antonio and Oklahoma City despite having led in the fourth quarter of each game against the Western Conference’s top three teams.

“No moral victories,” said Paul. “Yeah, we’ve been a possession away in all those games, but it does no good unless we start winning.”

The Clippers nearly persevered through a horrid shooting night from forward Blake Griffin, who made only seven of 21 shots. They took a 99-98 lead with 10.9 seconds to go after Paul stole an inbounds pass that deflected off Oklahoma City’s Russell Westbrook. Paul drove for a layup and appeared to be fouled by Westbrook, but there was no call.

“That was a foul,” Rivers said.

Said Paul: “I’ll save my money.”

Paul finished with 32 points on 11-for-19 shooting to go with 10 assists. Griffin had 15 points, seven rebounds and five assists after missing 10 of his first 11 shots.

“It kind of cripples our team offensively when I play like that,” Griffin said. “That was on me.”

Westbrook had 33 points, including a go-ahead three-pointer and pull-up jumper in the final 50 seconds, and Durant had 24 for the Thunder, who Rivers contended also got away with a foul by Dion Waiters on a J.J. Redick three-point attempt with just over a minute to play.

“He was wide open on the floor and the guy has a whole hand of jersey,” Rivers said. “That’s a big no-call.”

The Clippers also were to blame for the sloppy finish. Westbrook stripped the ball from Redick with 14 seconds left before Waiters’ inbounds pass was stolen by Paul.

The Clippers reserves did something unusual to start the fourth quarter by briefly stretching a five-point lead to six. Lance Stephenson contributed a layup, a steal and a finger-roll layup and Cole Aldrich was momentarily a dual force with a block of a Westbrook shot and a dunk that had Griffin clapping on the bench.

Aldrich finished with five points, four rebounds, three steals and two blocks in 13 minutes against his former team, taking the playing time usually designated for Josh Smith, who did not play. Rivers said he thought Aldrich would help energize the Clippers. He was right.

“I thought Cole was amazing,” Rivers said. “I thought he might have been the best player off our bench in some stretches.”

Missing Austin Rivers and Paul Pierce because of injuries, the Clippers played with a vitality and an ensemble approach, as if someone had finally revealed to them the team’s “Together We Will” mantra nearly two months into the season.

Rivers said he told his players he was encouraged after the game.

“I said, ‘Guys, we didn’t win the game and we made some mistakes obviously, but if we play with that type of energy, most nights we’re going to win a lot of games.’” Rivers said. “You could clearly see the difference and it was nice to see.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Twitter: @latbbolch