As They Say, It’s Not Over Till . . . : Clippers: Time for old sayings, new strategy. If they lose Game 4, they’re done.

It was Cliche Day on Tuesday, when the Clippers prepared for tonight’s Game 4 against the Houston Rockets.

Mark Jackson said: “It’s do or die.”

Ken Norman said: “There’s no tomorrow.”

And let’s not forget those other favorites, “Our backs are to the wall,” and “This is a must-win game,” because they are and this is.

A loss tonight at the Sports Arena will end the best-of-five first-round series, sending the Clippers on vacation and the Rockets on to play either Seattle or Utah. A victory forces Game 5 Saturday at Houston.

The Rockets have momentum. In this series, that hasn’t been worth much.

Houston also had it at the start with a 23-point victory in Game 1, then lost at home. The upstart Clippers had it when the series moved to Los Angeles, then got put in their place in more ways than one.

“All you guys do is talk,” Houston’s Sleepy Floyd said as he passed the home bench at the end of Game 3.

A couple of Clippers said something to him.

Floyd pointed to the scoreboard.

“Every guy on their team was thinking only about the score,” Clipper Coach Larry Brown said. “It was reflected in the way that they played.

“They did a wonderful job of giving up the ball to get each other shots. They did a wonderful job of demanding the best of each other so that they were not going to get beat.”

The Clippers will play Game 4 with a new attitude and new matchups. Brown said he will make the defensive switch he had initially planned before backing off: Norman, who usually plays the opponent’s best forward, will instead match up at small forward against Robert Horry. That puts Danny Manning on Otis Thorpe, who had 22 points and nine rebounds in Game 3. The hope is Thorpe will be slowed by having to shoot over the taller Manning.

The Clippers’ previous strategy worked well against Houston center Hakeem Olajuwon. They occasionally double-teamed him in Game 1, then constantly double- and triple-teamed him in Game 2. Clipper guards collapsed on Olajuwon as soon as a pass headed his way. The result was a Clipper victory.

The Rockets’ response Monday was to spread their guards more, making Clipper defenders go farther to reach Olajuwon. When the passes went back out to the guards quickly, Houston got open shots or open lanes to drive to the basket. The result was that Winston Garland, Kenny Smith and Scott Brooks combined to make 12 of 22 shots after going seven for 28 in Game 2. That combination makes the Rockets difficult to beat, no matter what the Clippers counter with on offense.

“I would say it’s hard to do it,” Thorpe said. “If the inside game is going, the outside game is going and the defense is working, how could it be any different?”

Plus, the reinforcements have arrived. Vernon Maxwell, cleared to play Monday after missing the final four games of the regular season and the first three games of the Clipper series because of a broken left wrist, practiced with the Rockets on Tuesday at Loyola Marymount and is expected to play tonight. How long is the question.

“I would like to play it by ear depending on the game,” Coach Rudy Tomjanovich said. “If the game is going well, I would like to rest him.”

Said Maxwell, the Rockets’ starting shooting guard and second-leading scorer during the regular season: “I felt pretty good. I shot the ball pretty well in practice (Tuesday). I did not feel any pain. The only time I feel any pain is when I fall.

“I have a hard time going with my left hand to the hole. Everything else is great. I want to play regardless of the score.”