Doc Rivers would have preferred his team quickly play again after Wednesday’s crushing loss to Portland

Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis, right, tries to block a shot by Portland’s Chris Kaman in Wednesday’s game at Staples Center won 98-93 by the Trail Blazers in overtime/Photo courtesy of Jae C. Hong, Associated Press

 

The Clippers on Wednesday night suffered one of their toughest losses of the season – 98-93 to visiting Portland in overtime. There was that crazy play at the end of regulation that saw DeAndre Jordan rebound a missed Chris Paul shot with 0.7 seconds left and instead of trying to tip it in for the game-winner, Jordan just held the ball over his head because he heard the shot-clock buzzer go off.

It was much more than that. The Clippers held a 10-point lead with 2:53 to play in regulation before falling apart and allowing the Trail Blazers to take them to overtime.

It would have been nice if the Clippers (40-22) had been able to get right back out there and play another game so as to more quickly erase that pain. As it stands, they will not play again until Sunday at Golden State (47-12).

“We didn’t have that luxury this time, so you know, this is one you have to sit with for a while,” coach Doc Rivers said Friday at practice in Playa Vista. “Listen, at the end of the day you lose some tough ones during the year and you win probably a couple of them. … It would have been a really nice win for us, more than losing it, when you factor in you have 40, 45 points out of your offense and yet you could have won that game and you should have won it. But you didn’t, so you shouldn’t have.”

That said, Rivers believes a loss of that magnitude could help his team moving forward.

“If we’re in the Finals, if things work out and we get through this West, I guarantee you that game will have something to do with it in a positive way,” Rivers said.

The Clippers were without Blake Griffin (elbow), Matt Barnes (hamstring) and Jamal Crawford (calf) on Wednesday. They average a combined 48.5 points.