Clippers get into giving spirit in 84-83 loss to Memphis

Introducing the time-traveling basketball team …

You can take that two ways with the Clippers. They possess an uncanny ability to reach back in time. For the second time in four days, they blew a 12-point lead and ended up losing by a point, this time to the Memphis Grizzlies, 84-83, Saturday afternoon at Staples Center.

And traveling, you say?

Oh, plenty of that too, along with the usual array of bad passes leading to turnovers. The Clippers had 27 turnovers, including 19 in the second half and 10 in the final quarter. Five came in a stretch of 1 minute 40 seconds.

“They had 16 steals. We had 26 turnovers,” Coach Vinny Del Negro said, omitting the one team turnover. “And our ball movement wasn’t good enough, and when it was, it was to the other team.”

Touche.

“I don’t even know what to say about [today’s] game,” said Eric Gordon, who had a game-high 25 points. “I just don’t have a clue. We talk about turnovers but we still could have beat them.

“I don’t care if we had 30 turnovers. We still could have beat them by a wide margin.”

Blake Griffin had 19 points, 11 rebounds and five assists, taking part in a spirited physical battle against former Clipper Zach Randolph for most of the game.

The Clippers have won only two of their last nine games, both against Sacramento. The one-point loss to the Lakers on Wednesday could be viewed in the context of the moral victory category, virtually impossible to do with the Grizzlies.

About the only thing the Lakers and Grizzlies have in common is a Gasol in the starting lineup. And actually Pau’s brother Marc of the Grizzlies, who had 17 points, looked a lot more energetic than Pau did Wednesday.

The last time the Clippers won a one-point game was more than two years ago when they beat the Heat, 97-96, on Nov. 29, 2008.

But who is being picky?

This time, Baron Davis’ 18-foot shot bounced off the rim and Griffin could not control the rebound just before the final buzzer.

“I can’t believe I missed it,” said Davis, who had six points, four assists and four turnovers off the bench.

Said Del Negro: “That wasn’t the exact play that we called. We didn’t execute very well. We weren’t physical enough at the end of the game. We didn’t clear enough space and things. That’s one of Baron’s favorite shots. But that wasn’t the shot we were looking for.”

Gordon filled in the blanks.

“We were supposed to throw to Blake, and they denied him,” Gordon said. “They did a good job of stopping that passing lane and we had to throw it to Baron. I think he took a good shot, over a smaller guard. It didn’t run as well as we wanted.”

The three rookies in the starting lineup — Griffin, point guard Eric Bledsoe and Al-Farouq Aminu — combined for 11 turnovers. Bledsoe and Aminu did not score.

Randolph led the Grizzlies with 18 points and 13 rebounds, Rudy Gay had 12 points and O.J. May had 13 points off the bench.

Griffin had his 11th consecutive double-double and teammate DeAndre Jordan had his first double-double of the season with 10 points and 14 rebounds.

Randolph, before the game, had one word to describe Griffin: “Monster.”

And now?

“Same thing, same impression,” Randolph said, smiling.

lisa.dillman@latimes.com

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