Clippers at Grizzlies
The Memphis Grizzlies are sliding in the wrong direction and look to halt a three-game losing streak when they host the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday. Memphis owns the sixth seed in the Western Conference playoff race and stands two games behind the fifth-place Clippers with 18 games remaining.
Memphis reached a low point in its campaign when it was outplayed by the Brooklyn Nets — the worst team in the NBA — during Monday's 122-109 home loss, the team's fifth defeat in the past seven games. "I thought by now that we had a good idea of what we were going to do, especially from the players' standpoint, knowing exactly what we are supposed to do," standout center Marc Gasol told reporters. "We can look ourselves in the mirror and be honest with ourselves, each and every single one of us. That's what you're supposed to do, especially when things don't go as well as you would want them." Los Angeles was pounded 107-91 by the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday and has fallen 2 1/2 games behind the Utah Jazz for fourth place in the West. "Guys were missing layups, wide-open 3s, wide-open shots, and you let it take your spirit away," disappointed Clippers coach Doc Rivers said afterward. "That's what young teams do, not veteran teams."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), FSN Southeast (Memphis)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (38-26): Power forward Blake Griffin was highly disappointed with his club's showing as it was dominated in the interior by the Timberwolves — being outrebounded 50-36 and outscored 62-40 in the paint. "Offensively, when we're not scoring, we let that trickle over into our defense," Griffin said afterward. "Early on in the season, we were kind of hanging our hat on the defense. Even if we weren't scoring, we would still get stops. We need to get back to that." Point guard Chris Paul had 10 assists but scored just seven points while being outplayed by counterpart Ricky Rubio (15 points, 12 assists).
ABOUT THE GRIZZLIES (36-28): Memphis coach David Fizdale shook up the starting lineup against the Nets by inserting guard Andrew Harrison and forward Brandan Wright in favor of standout defensive guard Tony Allen and forward JaMychal Green. Fizdale indicated he would give the lineup a couple of games to see how it fares because he feels the squad has been "a mediocre basketball team" since Jan. 1. "We're stale. Right now, we're 14-14 since January 1," Fizdale told reporters. "It's my job to shake it up. There were some good things about it and overall, at the end of the day, it doesn't matter who was on the floor for us. We couldn't guard them off the dribble. That's the bottom line."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Clippers are 2-1 against the Grizzlies this season and have won six of the past eight meetings.
2. Memphis PG Mike Conley is averaging 29 points over the last five games and has four 30-point outings in the past eight contests.
3. Los Angeles reserve SG Jamal Crawford scored just seven points on 2-of-9 shooting against Minnesota after averaging 22 points over the previous two games.