Clippers have lost six in a row and are ‘pretty banged up’ before facing Cavaliers

Reporting from Cleveland —  The 2017-18 NBA campaign began with a sense that the Clippers would be loaded this season but it would take the sum of all the parts for them to prosper.

A 4-0 start to the season seemed to bear that out before injuries robbed the Clippers of their depth, leaving them in a weakened state.

“At the start of the season, we always knew that we needed strength in numbers,” Lou Williams said after the Clippers arrived here from Los Angeles for a practice session. “We don’t have numbers so we don’t have a lot of strength. So we’ve just got to continue to play hard and just keep our heads up, keep our focus.

“As bad as it is, we’re not in the worst shape. If we win two or three games here, we’ll get ourselves back to .500.”

The Clippers have lost six consecutive games, falling to 5-8.

In the midst of it all, the Clippers lost Patrick Beverley (sore right knee), Danilo Gallinari (left glute injury) and Milos Teodosic (plantar fascia injury to left foot).

All three are on the five-game trip, but none of them are expected to play against Cleveland on Friday night.

“I think we recognize the situation we’re in,” Blake Griffin said. “We’re pretty banged up right now. But we’ve been in some of these games and had a chance to win I’d say at least half. So, I think our spirit is pretty good. I just think we need to keep doing what we’re doing. We’re learning from each loss. But we do need to be better at executing once we figure out what we’ve done wrong.”

Williams has taken on a bigger role, even from his sixth-man spot. He has become the go-to player, the one the Clippers rely on the most late in games.

Williams has raised his scoring average to 17.5 points a game, second-best on the team behind Griffin (23.1). Williams is second on the Clippers in assists, averaging 3.4 a game.

It’s going to take another big game from Williams and the rest of the Clippers to overcome LeBron James and the Cavaliers.

“Obviously it’s rough and you’ve got to kind of live with the circumstances,” Williams said. “We’ve got three starters out. We’ve got guys playing as hard as they can and we just can’t come up with the win.”

Etc.

Clippers forward Brice Johnson and guard C.J. Wilson were was assigned Thursday to the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario. Jamil Wilson was called up from the developmental team.

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AT CLEVELAND

When: 4:30 p.m. PST, Friday

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Update: LeBron James remains a force in the NBA. He is ranked fourth in scoring (28.3) and assists (8.7) and tied for six in double-doubles (9). He is averaging 7.3 rebounds and has one triple-double.