Short-handed Clippers are no match against Suns

One by one, the starting lineup arrived inside Crypto.com Arena.

There was All-Star forward Paul George, in a trucker hat and yellow jacket. Fellow All-Star wing Kawhi Leonard in a blue hat. Center Ivica Zubac, in a polo. And point guard Reggie Jackson, sitting along the baseline in a sweater and backward hat. In all, five Clippers responsible for key roles in the team’s three consecutive wins entering Thursday sat out injured, the team expressing cautious optimism Thursday night that all but Zubac, who suffered a bone bruise in his left knee, could return as soon as Saturday.

In their place, a lineup that had spent just three possessions together became the starters, a new look that raised what by now have become familiar questions for the perpetually incomplete Clippers: On a night when the Clippers look nothing like the team they hope to be come the postseason, relying on rotations that might never be paired together again, what is there to be learned, and what counts as progress?

The question’s relevancy stems from its frequency. With Leonard and point guard John Wall still not playing games on consecutive days and the long nature of the regular season all but guaranteeing more short-handed nights ahead, Thursday will not be the last time the Clippers are unable to add to their sample size of full-strength minutes and, in turn, learn from them.

“As a coach you always think you’re behind,” coach Tyronn Lue said, “and I think we’re really behind offensively, especially how we need to play. And so until we get that continuity, until we get everyone back and everyone healthy, when we get a two or three week sample size of how we want to play offensively, that’ll make me feel a lot better.”

That doesn’t mean the Clippers felt that…