Another December Low for the Clippers

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Another Clipper season seems on the verge of slipping into the abyss, their November to remember all but forgotten now.

Even the players sense it.

“We need to get together as a team without coaches and decide what we’re going to do,” Corey Maggette said Monday night in the quiet of the visitors’ locker room in the FedExForum, the Clippers having absorbed a 96-76 drubbing from the Memphis Grizzlies. “Are we going to ... get back on track?”

After a winless two-game trip that started with a 96-79 loss Sunday at Houston, the Clippers are 12-14, same as they were at this point last season en route to a 28-54 record and another last-place finish in the Western Conference.

On the heels of the winningest November in Clipper history and a five-game winning streak, their longest in nine years, they’ve lost seven of eight, their only victory since Dec. 6 coming in overtime against the New Orleans Hornets.

The Grizzlies, whose 20-5 game-ending blitz carried them to a 10-point victory over the Clippers on Dec. 19 in Staples Center, picked up where they left off that night, running out to a 29-12 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Garbage time was lengthy as the Grizzlies, led by Pau Gasol, limited the Clippers to their lowest point total of the season -- 24 hours after they’d established their previous low -- and 36.1% shooting, their worst of the season.

Gasol established himself early, scoring 12 of his 24 points in the first quarter. He played only 15 minutes after that, making nine of 13 shots in all.

Meanwhile, the Clippers’ top three scorers, Maggette, Elton Brand and Bobby Simmons, combined to make only eight shots, missing 25 of 33.

Maggette, who scored 14 points, missed 12 of 15 shots and had five turnovers. Brand, who scored eight, missed six of seven and had four turnovers.

“You don’t have to say much more other than look at the stat sheet and go, ‘We got a four-for-22 and nine turnovers from our two top players,’ ” Coach Mike Dunleavy said. “At that point, you’re going to have a hard time winning.”

The Clippers, who again played without injured point guard Marko Jaric, have had an especially hard time winning against teams that made the Western Conference playoffs last season. They’re 0-8 against those teams and haven’t yet played the San Antonio Spurs, Dallas Mavericks or Sacramento Kings.

Of course, at this point they’d take a victory over anybody.

“We ain’t even one-fourth of the way into the season yet, so I ain’t tripping off that,” backup center Mikki Moore said, apparently unaware that the Clippers had passed the season’s quarter pole last week. “It’s correctable, but the problem is, if you’re sitting back and accepting it, you ain’t going to try to correct it.”

What exactly needs to be corrected was difficult to pinpoint.

“We’ve just got to be better in every aspect of the game,” Maggette said. “It’s not just one single thing; it’s a lot of things that we need to work on. I think when you’re winning you don’t see it. When you’re losing, you see a lot of stuff.”

What they saw Monday was the Grizzlies outscoring them in the lane, 46-26. The Grizzlies never trailed, ending the first quarter with a 17-4 run and eventually building their lead to 23 points.

“We just need to get the squad together,” Brand said. “We can’t feel too sorry for ourselves. We’ve got injuries, but we just need to take it as a challenge and keep playing. We know we’re a good team. We just have to act like it.”

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December Woes

After the loss to Memphis on Monday, the Clippers are 3-8 in December.

*--* Date Opponent Result Dec. 1 Indiana Won, 88-76 Dec. 4 Minnesota Lost, 107-100, OT Dec. 6 Charlotte Won, 99-93, 2OT Dec. 11 LAKERS Lost, 89-87 Dec. 13 Boston Lost, 134-127, 2OT Dec. 14 at Utah Lost, 93-91 Dec. 17 at Minnesota Lost, 113-86 Dec. 19 Memphis Lost, 92-82 Dec. 21 New Orleans Won, 100-91, OT Dec. 26 at Houston Lost, 96-79 Dec. 27 at Memphis Lost, 96-76

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