A Clipper Open House

Things haven’t been this backward since Kris Kross hit the scene. The Clippers have actually reached the point where losing could be good for them.

Of course, like a vaccination, there’s only a limited amount of losing that can be beneficial. Too much and it could start an epidemic.

The Clippers (33-25) hold the fifth spot in the Western Conference, half a game ahead of the Memphis Grizzlies (33-26). Either the Dallas Mavericks or the San Antonio Spurs will occupy the fourth spot. It doesn’t matter which one, because the Clippers won’t beat either in a series. But the sixth spot would bring No. 3 Denver, a team the Clippers have beaten two of three times this season. Now isn’t that more appealing?

“I ain’t got to answer that question,” Sam Cassell said. “Who would you rather play?”

He called Denver “a strong-minded, good team.” He drew on his days playing in Milwaukee under George Karl, the current Nugget coach, to say, “He likes his situation. He likes where he’s at right now. He wants to be the underdog.”

But anyone would rather play an underdog than, say, the defending NBA champions.

Then again, it wouldn’t matter whom the Clippers played if they duplicated their performance in a 102-86 loss to the Grizzlies on Sunday night.

Clipper Coach Mike Dunleavy said the Clipper formula has been a mix of keeping the turnovers down, getting to the free-throw line and converting, and defending.

Committing 14 turnovers Sunday? Not bad.

Making 17 of 26 free throws? Not good.

Seeing Memphis shoot 57% from the field, including 54% on three-pointers? Unacceptable.

A big part of the problem was that Memphis backup guards Mike Miller and Bobby Jackson outscored the Clipper starting backcourt of Cassell and Cuttino Mobley, 35-15.

Of course, anyone could have put up big numbers with a Clipper defense that made scoring as easy as snapping pictures with a digital camera.

Defense starts with individual effort and flourishes with team communication and help. That hasn’t been there for the Clippers for the last two games. In Utah on Friday, it was miscommunications that left Jazz players alone under the basket five times by Dunleavy’s count. Sunday the Clippers didn’t know what to do with Memphis’ perimeter screens, and they couldn’t stop the Grizzlies’ dribble penetration.

“They’re a good team, and to let their guys get layups, let their guys get open jumpers is disappointing,” Clipper forward Elton Brand said. “We’re out of sync right now.”

That’s due in part to the Clippers’ trading for Vladimir Radmanovic and bringing back Corey Maggette and Quinton Ross from injuries recently.

“We’re trying to work some guys in,” Dunleavy said. “Some guys just aren’t up to speed.”

Maggette, who sat out 39 games because of a sprained foot, said his speed is fine after two games back.

“It’s just more so just trying to catch a rhythm,” Maggette said. “You’ve got to jump to it real fast. Coach is playing me sporadic minutes, so I’m not sure what I’m going to do. But the biggest thing is just being patient and doing what I can do now until he plays me more.”

Hearing Maggette talk about minutes brings to mind the disagreement he and Dunleavy had earlier in the season about whether Maggette should start or come off the bench. Is this really the time to revisit old issues?

The Clippers should be fine-tuning now for the playoff push.

Instead, for the better part of a month they have forgotten what made them a good team.

“We’ve got to continue to play basketball,” Cassell said. “We’ve got to continue to have that hunger. We have got to still take that underdog attitude.... The playoffs ... that’s going to come. And we’ve just got to get the best position possible.”

Realistically, the best position is sixth. But if they go from controlled descent to free fall, they could drop to seventh (and a trip to Phoenix for the first round), eighth or out of the playoffs.

The Clippers can win for losing, but they can’t lose track of what it takes to win.

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J.A. Adande can be reached at [email protected]. To read more by Adande go to latimes.com/adandeblog.