LOS ANGELES -- The Los Angeles Clippers haven't been very dependable this season. It's hard to know exactly what team you're going to get from one day to the next.
Is it the team that beat the 26-11 Dallas Mavericks by 20 on Saturday or the one that lost to the 15-21 Miami Heat by 14 on Sunday?
Not even Clippers players or coaches know exactly which group is going to show up on any given day.
"We're consistently inconsistent," Jamal Crawford said after Sunday's loss to Miami.
Outside of a nine-game winning streak earlier in the season, the Clippers have had a hard time putting together any kind of winning streak. They won three games in a row at home during their just-completed nine-game homestand, taking care of bottom dwellers New York, Philadelphia and Utah in succession, but haven't strung more than two wins in a row outside of that.
"It's frustrating," Crawford said. "We've shown at times we can have those streaks where everything is clicking and we know what we're going do and everything is working for us, but more times than not it went the other way."
If you think there's something not quite right with this Clippers team, you're not alone. They agree. And if you're having a hard time putting your finger on what exactly is missing considering they've been basically injury-free outside of reserve center Spencer Hawes missing nine games, you're not alone. It's hard for them to figure out what is missing.
The one thing the Clippers realize is they have seen flashes of how good they can be but the problem is they've been just that -- flashes.
"This league is all about consistency," Chris Paul said. "You can go out one night and have 35 or 40 points and the next not [you don't]. That's what separates not only the good and great players in our league but good and great teams. It's all about consistency."
The Clippers finished their nine-game home-stand at 6-3. Their 25-13 record has them in the sixth seed, but it's the same mark they had through 38 games last season when they finished with 57 wins and the No. 3 seed. As it stands, the Clippers are less than two games out of the third-best record in the West. That's probably why Doc Rivers laughed off consistency concerns as he has, well, consistently, done this season.
"I'm not concerned. I've been saying that all year, but I don't think you're hearing that," Rivers said. "What's our record? We're right in the middle of things. I would love to win every game, but I guarantee you we're not. I would love to be more consistent, but it's not a concern right now. We've been up and down but my job is to keep coaching, I don't sit and worry, and that's what we have to do."
As much as the Clippers have harped on a difficult schedule to start the season and lack of practice time, much of what ails the Clippers right now isn't something that can be practiced or learned during film work.
"A lot of it is mental," Paul said. "We have to commit to doing the things that we're supposed to do. Things don't really change for us much as far as what we're doing. Effort and all that stuff can't be coached, so we have to come together more as a team."
The Clippers are still a team that lets bad plays or bad calls or bad moods affect the way they play. One bad play turns into two and eventually turns into an entire quarter or half. Rivers calls them "emotional hijacks" and it's still one of the biggest issues this team has when things don't go their way.
"Those things are the most frustrating because those are things you can control with your mindset and not letting what they do affect you," Blake Griffin said. "Sometimes we let it get to us too much and we let our defense take us out of our offense and take us out of the way we run our offense. We have to do a better job of controlling the things we can control."