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  • Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, top, shoots as Clippers forward...

    Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, top, shoots as Clippers forward Paul Pierce defends on Saturday at Staples Center.

  • Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, left, and Clippers center Cole...

    Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, left, and Clippers center Cole Aldrich vie for a rebound on Saturday at Staples Center.

  • Sacramento center Willie Cauley-Stein goes up for a dunk as...

    Sacramento center Willie Cauley-Stein goes up for a dunk as Clippers forward Wesley Johnson defends on Saturday night.

  • Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, right, shoots as Clippers center...

    Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, right, shoots as Clippers center Cole Aldrich defends on Saturday at Staples Center.

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LOS ANGELES – The lack of size, the weird matchups, the missed firepower, none of it had stopped the Clippers from winning.

Since Christmas night, when the Clippers needed a basket, they usually got it. When they needed a stop, they made one.

But Saturday night against the Sacramento Kings – a team they’d beaten five straight times – those big plays that had led to the Clippers’ wins? They just couldn’t make enough of them.

The big shots didn’t fall, the needed defensive stands didn’t come, and the Clippers lost for the first time since Dec. 21, with the Kings hanging on for a 110-103 win at Staples Center.

The loss snapped a 10-game winning streak, which was tied for the longest current streak in the NBA.

J.J. Redick led the Clippers with 22 points on just 13 shots, Jamal Crawford added 20 and Cole Aldrich scored 19, but it wasn’t enough to match the Kings’ balance with six players scoring 13 or more points.

Without DeAndre Jordan, there was no one really equipped to deal with DeMarcus Cousins, maybe the most offensively gifted big man in the league. Without Blake Griffin and with Chris Paul in foul trouble, there just wasn’t enough offense to keep up with the Kings – the NBA’s fastest-paced team.

Cousins set the tone early, putting Jordan’s replacement, Aldrich, on his back and going to work. He scored 10 quick points, and with the Clippers now forced to double team and help, the Kings started finding their shooters.

Omri Casspi, Ben McLemore and ex-Clipper Darren Collison all got hot from deep, as the Kings spread the defense thin.

The deep shooting and opened driving lanes that resulted because of the 3s led to a 17-2 Sacramento run in the second quarter.

The Clippers offense, which started the game hitting 6 of 9 shots, progressively got worse over the next three quarters.

Layups and dunks wouldn’t go through the net. Jumpers wouldn’t fall. And, the points the Clippers needed, well, they just didn’t come.

Luc Mbah a Moute was just 1 of 6. Austin Rivers was 1 of 7. Wesley Joshnson (2/7), Paul Pierce (3/9) and Josh Smith (3/8) were only slightly better.

The Clippers shot 39.6 percent from the field in the loss. And even when the shots did go in, they usually came as a result of 1-on-1 offense.

The energy picked up late in the fourth quarter, with the Clippers cutting the Kings’ lead to three thanks to much tighter, more frantic defense, but Pierce’s tying shot wouldn’t drop.

The Clippers’ streak snapped just in time for things to get much tougher.

The schedule, which was a little soft during the Clippers’ winning streak, gets unquestionably tougher starting with Monday’s game against Houston. From there, the Clippers travel to play Cleveland, New York, Toronto, Indiana and Atlanta.

Only the much-improved Knicks are under .500.

During the Clippers’ winning streak, only one team, the Miami Heat, owns a record better than .500.

Contact the writer: dwoike@ocregister.com