Paul

The task the Clippers face in trying to deal with a tough Memphis Grizzlies team has become even more daunting. There is Blake Griffin's sprained right ankle that limited the All-Star forward to about 20 minutes in the Clippers' Game 5 loss Tuesday in the Western Conference playoffs. His X-rays were negative and an MRI showed no structural damage Wednesday. But the Clippers, who trail the Grizzlies, 3-2, have listed Griffin as a game-time decision for their win-or-go-home Game 6 at Memphis on Friday.

The Clippers' public relations department sent out a notice announcing none of their players would be available Wednesday. It wasn't surprising to hear they lacked the backbone to own up to their own disappearing act a night earlier. The PR notice said the players would be available to talk Thursday at 11:15 p.m. I'm sure the Clippers meant 11:15 a.m., but then I wonder - maybe they don't want anyone talking to them. Why didn't they schedule exit interviews for the players Wednesday?

The Clippers have been pushed to the brink of playoff elimination despite a career effort from Chris Paul. Paul tried to carry the Clippers by himself because his running mate, Blake Griffin, could only play 19 minutes 34 seconds because of a sprained right ankle. But for as much as Paul did in tying his career playoff high with 35 points, he alone couldn't take down the Memphis Grizzlies, who won Game 5, 103-93, Tuesday night at Staples Center. BOX SCORE: Memphis 103, Clippers 93 After Memphis big men Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol combined for 46 points and 19 rebounds, the Clippers, who won the first two games in this series, now trail the Grizzlies, 3-2. Game 6 is Friday night in Memphis, where the Clippers lost Games 3 and 4 by an average of 16.5 points.

It's tough to win a playoff game going one on five. The Clippers gamely tried Tuesday at Staples Center, but not even the sustained brilliance of Chris Paul was enough on a night he nearly doubled the output of his fellow starters with 35 points. The Memphis Grizzlies didn't deliver a powerful jab during a 103-93 victory in Game 5 of their Western Conference first-round series as much as what seemed like a knockout blow, taking a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Paul Tanaka, the Los Angeles County undersheriff accused of fostering a culture of jailhouse abuse, offered a searing critique of his boss Sheriff Lee Baca, calling him a confused and erratic leader who cares more about politics than public safety. In his first extensive comments since being pressured to step down, Tanaka told The Times that Baca pushed subordinates to hire his friends and relatives and undermined public safety to settle political spats. For example, Tanaka said Baca demanded that all sheriff's deputies be removed from joint crime-fighting operations with the FBI as payback for a federal investigation of the jails - an order Tanaka said he refused to carry out. Tanaka, who is considering a run against Baca in 2014, said he was speaking out because he feels he has been made a scapegoat for many of the agency's problems.

I so wish I could watch Chris Paul continue to play basketball and show everyone what a mighty competitor he is. But I fear the absolute worst. One more Clippers collapse, and that appears to be a certainty come Friday, and the basketball season is over. And you know what that means? We have to start paying attention to the Dodgers and Angels. Or worse. Icing. The NBA playoffs were not about winning a championship, but getting us deep into June without having to watch Joe Blanton pitch or listening to Charley Steiner describe an underachieving team's performance.

RATHOLE, Tenn. - Made it. Got a ride back to the hotel Thursday night after the Clippers' collapse, the final 10 yards covered on foot in a dash to the door. It was touch and go, but bravery won out. On Friday, there was daylight here. So I took a break from the Memphis email threats to walk the streets while I could. Right away I noticed someone else looking over his shoulder with every step he was taking. I won't say it was a friendly face, but it was a familiar one: Henry Bibby , the former UCLA great, USC turncoat and now an assistant coach for the Grizzlies.

Not long after Paul Feig created the beloved cult TV series "Freaks and Geeks" in 1999, studios began barraging him with coming-of-age sex comedy scripts, even though "Freaks," with its sweet, sympathetic portrait of the perils of adolescence, was spiritually opposed to that kind of lunkheaded, frat-boy humor. The mild-mannered Feig, the self-described "awkward guy" in high school, couldn't relate to any of the material's high-concept, horn dog ideas ("nerds don't hang out with frat guys unless you're Karl Rove trying to get in with them")

NEW YORK -- As Zach Braff and the people behind “Veronica Mars” could tell you, crowd sourcing isn't a half-bad way to raise some money for a film. But can it enable new forms of creativity too? That's what the longtime Hollywood director Paul Verhoeven set out to learn. A while back, the pulp auteur behind movies such as "Basic Instinct" and "Total Recall" decided to throw open the doors - not to the bank, but to the screenwriting process.  The Dutch-born filmmaker wanted fans in his native Holland to contribute chapters to a script for a short feature.

They are the two shortest players on the court, yet 6-foot Chris Paul and 6-1 Mike Conley have perhaps the biggest impact there. They are the point guards who direct and make the all-important decisions for their teams, Paul operating for the Clippers and Conley running the show for the Memphis Grizzlies. And in the first two NBA Western Conference playoff games between the teams, the Paul-Conley matchup has been intriguing to watch. Paul's steely play has helped the Clippers open a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series.