Inconsistent play catches up to Clippers, who lose first game

The Clippers have opened their season playing three games at a mediocre level.

It finally caught up to them.

After two narrow victories, they lost to the Sacramento Kings, 98-92, on Sunday afternoon at Staples Center by squandering a 10-point lead.

“They deserved to win,” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said.

The Clippers were outshot in the fourth quarter from the field, 56% to 31%. They were also 0 for 12 from beyond the three-point line in the fourth quarter.

Aside from their late-game collapse, Rivers said he was happy with the team’s play overall.

“In a sick way, I’m a little happier tonight than I was the first two games that we won,” Rivers said. “That four-minute stretch to me changed the game. Hopefully that’s a great lesson for us. That stretch changed the game, that’s it.”

Rivers was referring to a period in the third quarter when they were up by 10 points and couldn’t extend the lead.

The final four minutes of the fourth quarter weren’t too pretty either -- the Clippers were outscored, 11-6.

Blake Griffin had 17 points for the Clippers, but he didn’t exactly play well, shooting only six for 20 from the field. Spencer Hawes also finished with 17 points on five-for-10 shooting. Also finishing in double-digit scoring for the Clippers were Chris Paul (16), J.J. Redick (12) and Jordan Farmar (10).

DeMarcus Cousins finished with 34 points on 15-for-23 shooting and 17 rebounds for the Kings. Rudy Gay added 25 points, 10 of which came from the free-throw line.

Barnes said the Clippers have to do a better job of helping out with dominant players such as Cousins.

“He’s one of the best bigs in the game,” Barnes said of Cousins. “It’s a complete team effort against him. He was throwing shots up and missing, and going right back up and getting them. We’ve go got to help our bigs rebound.”

Former Clipper and current Kings guard Darren Collison came through for his team down the stretch, scoring four of his 14 points in the final minute.

For the game, the Clippers were outrebounded, 46-35, and outshot, 50% to 37.5%.

“We’re just not playing well right now,” Barnes said. “We’ve been fortunate to get those first two wins not playing well. But overall, from head to toe, we’ve got to do a better job of playing 48 minutes, and playing our style of basketball for 48 minutes.”