CLIPPERS NOTEBOOK: Game 4 effort leaves much to be desired

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - What came first, bad shooting or bad rebounding?

The Clippers were terrible in both categories in losses to the Memphis Grizzlies in Games 3 and 4, the result being the series returns to Los Angeles tied 2-2 and reduced to a best-of-three.

The good news is the Clippers own home-court advantage and will play two of the three games at Staples Center, should it go that far. The bad news is, if they don't get their shooting and rebounding in order they're in big trouble.

Saturday's Game 4 loss was a continuation of the problems from Game 3 as the Grizzlies out-rebounded the Clippers 45-28.

It also didn't help the Clippers made just 32 of 78 shots.

"If you look at the stats, sometimes stats don't say everything," Clippers forward Lamar Odom said. "They out-rebounded us but we missed (shots).

"It goes like that sometimes."

The Clippers are going nowhere if they can't get Memphis big men Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol under control, the two post players combining for 22 rebounds and 48 points.

It's easy to point a finger at Clippers big men DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin, but slowing down Randolph and Gasol is a team effort.

"It's top to bottom. Those are two big, talented big guys and we have to do a better job helping our bigs get them off the glass and if our bigs are boxing out them out we have to come in as guards and rebound," Clippers forward Matt Barnes said. "Including myself."

Starting minutes slide

Jordan, Caron Butler and Chauncey Billups were starters in name only as all three played fewer than 19 minutes.

They played their way onto the bench by combining for two points on 1-of-13 shooting and, in Jordan's case, getting out-worked on the glass.

"Caron missing shots he usually makes, never really got into the flow of the game," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. "Chauncey the same thing. DJ (Jordan) had the one put-back or one drop-off on the jump hook but you know rebounding and the physicality of the game. They just had off games. That's part of it. We've got to regroup. I thought our bench came out in the second quarter, got us back into it. They did a very good job.

"We were right in there in the third quarter. We had that stretch in the fourth where we just couldn't control them well enough. They made a run and we didn't have a good answer to it. That's what happened, so the series is tied up. We got to go back and obviously do a better job in a few areas that are key in this series."

Good spot

As bad as the Clippers played Saturday, they trailed by just four points heading into the fourth quarter. But that quickly fell apart as the Grizzlies outscored them 33-16.

The Clippers were kicking themselves later.

"Tough, it was tough. We definitely had a game to win down four going into the fourth quarter on the road and to lose like that, it is tough," Clippers guard Chris Paul said. "I didn't want to come back here by any means, by any means. Now we have to. It is what it is. You move on and get ready to play Game 5."