Struggling Grizzlies host Clippers

After Memphis lost to the lowly Brooklyn Nets on Monday, Grizzlies head coach David Fizdale called it the team's lowest point of the season.

The Grizzlies (36-28), who host the Los Angeles Clippers on Thursday at FedEx Forum, have lost three straight and are 2-5 in their past seven games.

"We're stale," Fizdale told The (Memphis) Commercial Appeal. "Right now we're 14-14 since January 1. It's my job to shake it up."

Fizdale retooled his starting lineup Monday, subbing guard Andrew Harrison and forward Brandan Wright in place of Tony Allen and JaMychal Green.

Wright and Harrison combined for just 14 points for Memphis, which was outscored 34-18 in the fourth quarter of their 122-109 loss to the Nets.

Fizdale said he'd stick with the lineup "a couple of games and see what it turns into."

One recent bright spot for the Grizzlies -- point guard Mike Conley, who had 32 points in the loss, the third time he's had at least 30 points in the past five games.

"We're frustrated," Conley told the paper. "We understand what we're trying to build towards and that's what's frustrating. If we didn't care about what was going on, if we didn't care about winning a championship, if we didn't think we're capable, then morale would be fine. We've got a lot of competitors in here."

The Clippers (38-26), who sit in fifth place in the NBA's Western Conference (two games ahead of Memphis), are coming off a 107-91 loss in Minnesota.

Jamal Crawford, who struggled against the Timberwolves, had been on a hot streak.

He followed a 25-point performance on Saturday in Chicago with 19 points in a Monday win at home against Boston. He made three 3-pointers in a 70-second span of the third quarter as the Clippers erased a 13-point deficit and beat the Celtics 116-102.

"I think I'm at my best whenever I'm just not thinking," Crawford said. "I'm just relaxed. I'm just playing, just hooping. It's just basketball. I've done it my whole life. I've always said when you're at your best in the NBA it feels like you're in high school because your true game comes out."

"I think one of the best decisions I've made when I took this job is to decide to never tell Jamal 'bad shot.' Ever," Clippers coach Doc Rivers told the Los Angeles Times.

Monday's home game was sandwiched between a pair of back-to-back games in the Midwest -- Milwaukee and Chicago last weekend and Minnesota and Memphis on Wednesday and Thursday.

"I would have loved to have just gone straight to Minnesota from Chicago," Rivers said. "That would have made a lot of sense."

The Clippers, who are now 3-5 since the All-Star break, have beaten Memphis twice in three tries this year.

The Clippers return home to face Philadelphia on Saturday, while the Grizzlies host Atlanta the same day.