Jamal Crawford/Photo courtesy of Los Angeles Clippers, NBA.com

The pressure is on the Clippers (34-19). They are currently sixth in the Western Conference standings and would love to move into the top four so they can play a first-round playoff series with homecourt advantage and so they can avoid playing either first-place Golden State or second-place Memphis in the first round, which would happen if they fall to seventh or eighth in the West.

With Blake Griffin (elbow) out at least a month, and with a brutal stretch of 14 games coming up against mostly playoff teams, none of this is going to be easy. The key, sixth-man Jamal Crawford suggested, us unity.

“Soul-searching. You’ve got to look deep,” Crawford said after his team won Monday at Dallas to complete a 3-5 Grammy road trip. “You have to look in the mirror, take a step back and see what you can do better. Collectively, you have to have each others’ backs.”