It wasn't the worst-case scenario, but it's pretty close.
Wednesday night in Memphis, the Clippers failed to close out the Grizzlies, losing by 12. But more importantly, the Clippers might be without their best two players.
Blake Griffin sprained his left knee, and Chris Paul strained his right hip flexor in the second half of the Clippers' loss.
"The pain scares you," Griffin said. "But it's not because it hurts; it's because you don't know why."
Griffin, who missed his entire rookie season with a fractured left patella, will have an MRI on his knee Thursday.
Paul, on the other hand, seemed optimistic he'd be able to play Friday.
"I'll be ready," he said before adding that he and Griffin are "tough guys."
Prior to Wednesday's game in Memphis, forward Kenyon Martin laughed at the notion that closeout games are easy, like Lakers center Andrew Bynum said.
"You can tell he's not been in a lot of them," Martin said.
Martin said teams tend to tighten up sometimes when they lead in a series, trying to be too perfect.
But in Wednesday's loss to the Grizzies, that wasn't the issue.
"They just took the fight too us," he said. "They took it right to our front door."
The Clippers lost their composure at times Wednesday in Memphis. Eric Bledsoe, Caron Butler, Chris Paul, Mo Williams and Vinny Del Negro were all hit with technical fouls in the Clippers' 92-80 loss.
