The flurry of games in a packed schedule seemed to catch up with the Clippers on Saturday.
That and a surprising Toronto Raptors team that is leading the Eastern Conference.
The Clippers are in a stretch where they're playing at least every other day, and they've had back-to-back days off only once this month.
The fatigue showed in their defense and bench with the injured Spencer Hawes still out.
Toronto, playing on four days rest, shot 47.7 percent from the field and pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 110-98 victory at Staples Center.
"'A few of us said at 12:30 p.m. right before tipoff, 'Man, it feels like we played last night,'" said J.J. Redick, who scored a Clippers-best 23 points. "It's not an excuse. Toronto played amazing. They played a great second half and great second quarter on. We've got two more games (before two consecutive days off). We need to win them both. And we'll get two days without games, so we're all excited about that."
The Clippers (20-11) are in sixth in the Western Conference, 4 1/2 games behind Golden State.
Just some 38 hours earlier, the Clippers had perhaps their best win of the season in beating the Warriors on Christmas at Staples Center. It wasn't a pretty victory but it was meaningful for the Clippers.
See what JJ Redick said @laclippers felt like before tipoff, having played golden state 38 hours earlier. https://t.co/PgTJRatJNI
— Jill Painter Lopez (@jillpainter) December 28, 2014
And just like that, the Clippers were searching for answers defensively on how the Raptors found so many open looks.
"It felt like we ran out of gas before the game started," said Chris Paul. "We just tried to stay the course and hopefully find enough toward the end to pull out the game, but they went on a run. They made a lot of big shots, a lot of timely shots and that is why they lead the East. You see how free they play."
Paul missed 9 of 12 shots and finished with 10 points and eight assists.
After tying the game at 78 at the end of the third quarter, the Clippers allowed Toronto to go on a 15-2 run, and the Clippers could never clip away at that lead in the fourth quarter.
Toronto made 11 of 22 shots in the fourth quarter - including five 3-pointers - as Greivis Vasquez and Lou Williams scored 8 and 7 points, respectively, off the bench. They got open outside shots and made them.
Kyle Lowry had 25 points for the Raptors and Jonas Valanciunas added 22. Blake Griffin scored 22 points and Jamal Crawford added 20 off the bench. DeAndre Jordan had 20 rebounds.
But the Clippers had one lackluster defensive outing.
"We made a lot of mistakes defensively," Doc Rivers said. "Honestly, I thought in the first half we were in trouble. I'm just being honest. I thought we were exhausted. They played great. Give them credit. In the second half, we couldn't get to places.
"Thought we had a stretch in the first half where we could've stretched (the lead) to 12-14 points, and when we didn't, because we put out so much effort to do it, I was concerned. We did break down in a lot of areas. I have to watch the film to see if that was us doing it or if we succumbed mentally to the game."
The Raptors are turning heads for the way they've played without DeMar DeRozan, who's out with a groin injury. Jay Leno could've had a field day asking people on the street to name one or two starters for Toronto.
"That shows our character," Vasquez said. "We are a team. A lot of people are surprised at the things that we're doing, but we're not. We want to do better. We're going to remain humble and going to keep working. Just imagine when (DeRozan) comes back. It's only going to get better."
The Clippers hope things are only going to get better when they can get some practice in and get off this whirlwind stretch. They host Utah on Monday, then play an afternoon game on New Year's Eve before two days off. The Clippers often don't practice between days when they're playing every other day, and Rivers has expressed worry that the Clippers haven't had enough good practice time to work on things.
"It's been hard to practice, so there's some continuity lost," Redick said.
That looked the case Saturday, not even two days after such an uplifting win over Golden State.
