“I’m really not allowed to speak on that,” Griffin said before practice Thursday. “But I’m very confident in the situation, so once I can [speak on it], I will.”

Griffin said being charged wasn’t scary, but he instead wished it wasn’t hanging over the team.

“I definitely wouldn’t say scary. I feel more badly just for the fact that it’s a distraction,” Griffin said. “I really don’t know how big of a distraction it really is, but it is. So that’s what I feel mostly bad about.”

According to the filing Wednesday in the Clark County District Attorney’s office, Griffin “willfully and unlawfully used force or violence” on Oct. 19 on Daniel Schuman, squeezing Schuman’s hand and shoulder and/or slapping him in the face.

According to reports at the time of the incident, Griffin was upset by camera flashes in his face and grabbed Schuman’s phone.

Teammates DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul were with Griffin at the club that night but were not involved in the alleged incident.

“We don’t really talk about it,” Paul said. “He’s a teammate, he’s a brother and we’re always going to be there for him.”

According to police, the maximum penalty if convicted is six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine.

Court records obtained Wednesday show Griffin is due for arraignment in Las Vegas on Dec. 8.

“I love Blake and support Blake, and this will work out,” Clippers coach Doc Rivers said. “Blake was more upset that he thought it was a distraction for the team, and he didn’t want that. I think that’s great that he feels that way. I’m always more concerned with the individual involved. It will play itself out.”

The Clippers held a portion of their training camp in Las Vegas and also hold an annual preseason game at Mandalay Bay. Rivers said the incident would not prevent the team from continuing to go to Las Vegas before the season.

“They’re adults,” Rivers said. “We would have liked it to go away, but it’s part of the legal process. We knew it was out there. We didn’t know if it was going to go away or come back or get handled. We just knew it was out there.”

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Miami At San Antonio
When: 7:00 PM ET, Sunday, March 31, 2013
Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
TV: 7 p.m. ET, Sun Sports (Miami), Fox Sports Southwest (San Antonio), NBATV
PREDICTION: Heat 98, Spurs 94

Oddsmakers currently have the Spurs listed as 1½-point favorites versus the Heat, while the game’s total is sitting at 198½.

Forward LeBron James put his outside shooting on display in the victory over New Orleans, knocking down seven 3-pointers – one shy of his career high. James made six consecutive 3-pointers in the first half and finished 7-of-10 from behind the arc while scoring 36 points. “I hadn’t done that probably since high school or the early years with Cleveland,” James said afterward. “I felt good. Just tried to keep the Heat wave going.” Miami shot a season-high 60.9 percent in the contest and was 14-of-27 from 3-point range.

Last time out for Miami, they were a 108-89 winner as they battled the Hornets on the road. The Heat covered in the match as a 7.5-point favorite, while 197 combined points moved the game OVER for totals bettors.

Team record: 57-15 SU, 38-34 ATS

is 24-1 SU in its last 25 games
is 14-1 SU in its last 15 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 5 of last 6 games on the road
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of last 11 games when playing on the road against San Antonio

When playing on Sunday are 6-4
Before playing New York are 7-3
After playing New Orleans are 5-5
After a win are 9-1

Duncan scored a season-best 34 points against the Clippers and continues to play like someone much younger. The 36-year-old Duncan also grabbed 11 rebounds against the Clippers for his 31st double-double of the season and is averaging 17.6 points and 10 rebounds. “He’s done the work to put himself in the position to have games like this and to have the season that’s he had,” Popovich said afterward. “You couldn’t be more proud of the guy on what he did out there.” Point guard Tony Parker had 24 points against the Clippers and is averaging 21.8 points in four games since returning from an ankle injury.

San Antonio won its last outing, a 104-102 result against the Clippers on March 29. The Spurs failed to cover in that game as a 4-point favorite, while the 206 combined points took the game OVER the total.

Team record: 55-17 SU, 37-33-2 ATS
Current streak: won 2 straight games.

is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games at home
is 12-1 SU in its last 13 games when playing at home against Miami
is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games
The total has gone UNDER in 9 of last 11 games when playing at home against Miami

When playing on Sunday are 7-3
Before playing Memphis are 5-5
After playing LA Clippers are 8-2
After a win are 6-4

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Oklahoma City At Golden State
When: 10:30 PM ET, Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Where: Oracle Arena, Oakland, California
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, Fox Sports Oklahoma (Oklahoma City), Comcast SportsNet Bay Area (Golden State), NBATV
Prediction: Warriors 108, Thunder 105.

Oddsmakers currently have the Thunder listed as 3-point favorites versus the Warriors, while the game’s total is sitting at 207½.

Oklahoma City has not been slowed a schedule that has had them on the road for eight of their past 10 games. The Thunder are halfway through their current six-game road trip and will be playing the first back-to-back of this set with the Warriors. After falling in overtime at Denver to snap a six-game winning streak on Sunday, Oklahoma City bounced back by posting a 109-97 victory over the Clippers on Tuesday. Durant scored 24 of his 32 points in the second half and went 5-of-6 from 3-point range in the win. The highest-scoring team in the NBA, the Thunder have reached the century mark in each of their last five contests. Durant collected his first career triple-double with 25 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists in the first meeting with the Warriors

Last time out for Oklahoma City, they were a 109-97 winner as they battled the Clippers on the road. The Thunder covered in the match as a 2.5-point favorite, while 206 combined points moved the game OVER for totals bettors.

Team record: 33-9 SU, 24-15-3 ATS
is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games when playing Golden State
is 7-1 SU in its last 8 games
is 5-1 SU in its last 6 games on the road
The total has gone OVER in 4 of last 5 games
When playing on Wednesday are 5-5
Before playing Sacramento are 6-4
After playing LA Clippers are 8-2
After a win are 7-3

Golden State had dropped five of six before rallying late to win at New Orleans on Saturday, and showed some resilience down the stretch by outscoring the Clippers 33-19 in the fourth quarter and pulling out a 106-99 triumph on Monday at home. Curry hit four 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to help spark the rally while Jarrett Jack came off the bench to deliver 18 points and 10 assists. The Warriors had averaged 81.5 points in the two games Curry sat out but have put up 111 in the two games since his return. The All-Star hopeful hit four 3-pointers en route to a team-high 22 points in the December meeting with the Thunder but joined his teammates in struggling to slow Durant, Russell Westbrook (30 points) and Kevin Martin (23) on the defensive end. Golden State will hit the road for four straight after facing Oklahoma City, beginning in Chicago on Friday.

Golden State won its last outing, a 106-99 result against the Clippers on January 21. The Warriors covered in that game as a 4.5-point underdog, while the 205 combined points took the game OVER the total.

Team record: 25-15 SU, 23-15-2 ATS
Current streak: won 2 straight games.

The total has gone OVER in 4 of last 5 games when playing Oklahoma City
is 12-4 SU in its last 16 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 6 of last 8 games when playing at home against Oklahoma City
The total has gone OVER in 4 of last 6 games

When playing on Wednesday are 0-10
Before playing Chicago are 6-4
After playing LA Clippers are 4-6
After a win are 5-5

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Reserves Jamal Crawford and Matt Barnes each scored 16 points, and the Clippers easily routed the Grizzlies 99-73 Monday night with Paul missing his first game this season because of a bruised right kneecap.

“Missing the best point guard in the world in Chris Paul, we all had to play collectively and step it up, and I thought we did a good job of that,” Crawford said.

The matchup between two of the best teams in the West wasn’t close after the first quarter. While Paul watched from the bench, the Grizzlies were without their leading scorer: Gay was excused for his grandmother’s funeral in Baltimore.

This also was the Clippers’ first trip to Memphis since they won Game 7 of their opening-round playoff series last May. All they did was match their largest margin of victory on the road this season while holding the Grizzles to a season-low in points and their worst field goal shooting percentage on their home court in franchise history.

“That’s why I said before the game that they’re the best team in the West, maybe the best team in the league right now,” Memphis coach Lionel Hollins said of the Clippers.

Eric Bledsoe, starting for Paul, had 14 points, and Blake Griffin scored 10. Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro was able to give nine players at least 17 minutes each before heading to Houston for the second half of a back-to-back Tuesday night.

“We want to be the best team we can, and that’s our goal as the season moves on,” Del Negro said. “I thought we were lacking a lot, but I thought we played well.”

Zach Randolph had 15 for Memphis, which lost its second straight blowout, after losing 104-83 at Dallas on Saturday night. Wayne Ellington added 11 in a rare start in place of Gay, and Darrell Arthur had 10 as the Grizzlies shot just 30.3 percent (27 of 89), a franchise-low at home. Randolph said they really missed Gay’s ability to drive and relieve pressure.

“They clogged up the paint on us, make us shoot from outside, make us pass the ball up because they’re doubling as soon as we catch it,” Randolph said. “They’re coming from every direction, and that makes us pass out to the perimeter.”

The Clippers had a 40-36 scoring edge in the paint as DeAndre Jordan and Griffin helped limit Randolph to 5-of-16 shooting and Marc Gasol to 4 of 13.

“That’s where most of their points were coming from since Rudy wasn’t playing,” Bledsoe said. “I think DJ and Blake, in taking Zach Randolph out of the game, that kind of stopped their offensive game.”

Both teams were coming off losses, but the Clippers responded much better to being without their point guard on the first night of back-to-back road games. The Clippers scored the first five points of the game and went on a 17-2 run in grabbing a 32-19 lead. When Memphis pulled to 36-30, the Clippers answered with a 17-4 spurt and led 53-34 at halftime.

Los Angeles got a big boost from its bench, which outscored Memphis 28-4 in the first half and finished with a 54-26 edge. The Clippers’ advantage was so big Griffin played only 25 minutes. The Grizzlies knew how good the Clippers have been on the bench and had their production written on the board in their locker room.

Memphis couldn’t match the Clippers’ intensity, and Hollins pointed out his Grizzlies couldn’t hit teammates for layups on the fast break or down in the post.

“That whole game summed up just that we weren’t competing on a high level,” Hollins said. “They came in here and wanted to show us, and they did.”

The Grizzlies brought back rookie Tony Wroten from Reno in the NBA D-League for depth. Hollins even joked before the game that he was unsure who he’d be subbing in since he started Ellington and Quincy Pondexter was out with an injured knee.

Memphis had its lowest scoring half this season in what was just part of an ugly night all around. The Grizzlies passed 20 points only in the fourth quarter (21) and were so sloppy that at one point in the first half Mike Conley stole the ball off Griffin’s pass only to hit Tony Allen in the face with a pass on the other end.

The Clippers didn’t ease up in the second half either, opening the third quarter with a 15-6 run. They pushed their lead to 16 points, 68-42, on a pair of free throws by Bledsoe with 4:03 left in the third, and Ryan Hollins’ alley-oop dunk with 2:41 gave the Clippers their biggest lead of the night, 95-68.

Game notes

After missing this game, Paul is day to day. … The Clippers also won by 26 Dec. 15 at Milwaukee. … The Clippers are 22-6 when their reserves outscore the opponent’s bench. … The Clippers now are 23-2 when leading after the first quarter. They came in second-best in the NBA in that category. … The Clippers’ largest road victory was by 28 on Nov. 6, 2009, at Golden State. … The Grizzlies’ previous low first half was 37 points Dec. 29 against Denver, and they had just 36 against Atlanta on Dec. 8 in the second half. … Memphis scored 80 twice previously this season, winning Dec. 17 against Chicago the last time.

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Something had to give, and this time, it was the Clippers.

J.J. Redick gave Orlando its first lead of the game on a 3-pointer with 42 seconds left, Arron Afflalo tied his season high with 30 points, and the Magic won 104-101 on Saturday to snap a 10-game skid.

“It wasn’t a letdown by us. Don’t try to take anything away from them,” Clippers guard Chris Paul said. “They made tough shot after tough shot. J.J. Reddick had a hand in his face half the time.”

The loss ended the Clippers’ franchise-record, 13-game home winning streak and provided them with a scare when All-Star Paul went down holding his right knee with 54 seconds to go.

“It was real scary,” Paul said. “I was looking up, trying to run down the ball, and J.J. Redick and I bumped knees.”

Paul returned after a timeout and hit a 15-footer to draw his team within one with 33 seconds left.

But the Clippers turned the ball over on Jamal Crawford’s offensive foul, with Redick drawing the charge.

“I got the ball in transition and I thought I saw Matt (Barnes) over there,” Crawford said. “I thought I made the right decision, but J.J. Redick guessed right. I thought he was going to rotate, so I faced it. When I put the ball down he stayed there, so lucky guess.”

Josh McRoberts found Nikola Vucevic open under the basket, and Vucevic dunked to extend Orlando’s lead to 104-101 with 8 seconds left.

After a timeout, Crawford missed a 3-pointer as time expired.

“We got muffled a little, so we tried to make the best out of the situation,” he said.

The Clippers were 6 of 6 from the free throw line, and Orlando was 15 of 19.

“That’s unheard of,” Paul said. “Blake (Griffin) takes 22 shots and no free throws. That’s not typical for us.”

Redick added 21 points, and Vucevic had 18 points and 15 rebounds for the injury-riddled Magic, who also stopped a four-game road losing streak. They completed a sweep of the L.A. teams, having beaten the Lakers 113-103 at Staples Center on Dec. 2, when Afflalo also scored 30 points.

“Too bad we can’t play here all year,” said Afflalo, who starred at UCLA before Vucevic played across town at Southern California. “I was the sour grape at the end letting guys know this only counts as one game.”

Griffin tied his season-high with 30 points, Crawford added 13 points, and Paul had 10 points and 16 assists for the Clippers.

“This was a bad loss,” Griffin said. “We have to get back to what made us successful and what got us here. That was our defensive intensity and everybody contributing and everybody having a fire out there.”

Crawford’s 3-pointer gave the Clippers a 95-87 lead in the fourth. But the Magic rallied to tie the game at 95-all with eight straight points. The run was capped by Vucevic’s jumper after Afflalo made a 3-pointer while being fouled by Barnes, who picked up his fifth.

“An embarrassing performance for us,” Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. “We got what we deserved.”

The Magic had earlier fourth-quarter leads against Miami, the Knicks, Portland and Denver this season, but were unable to finish. Not this time against a sluggish Clippers team that was coming off two days’ rest, as was the Magic.

“We weren’t just losing and not giving the effort,” Afflalo said. “We were losing very close games and we kept fighting.”

The Magic had been struggling since big man Glen Davis hurt his left shoulder on Dec. 19. They finally won their first game without him, improving to 6-11 on the road and 13-23 overall since he got injured.

“We were able to put it together, and some things went our way,” Orlando coach Jacque Vaughn said. “We earned it.”

Orlando opened the third with a 17-9 run, including 12 by Afflalo to make it 66-66.

“Seven of our last 10 games have all been one possession games at one point or another in the last minute and we just haven’t had the ball bounce our way,” Redick said. “The law of averages worked out.”

Powered by Griffin, the Clippers ended the period on an identical 17-9 spurt to lead 83-75. Griffin scored their final 10 points, highlighted by an alley-oop dunk and back-to-back hook shots, the latter banking in on a turnaround move.

Grant Hill made his season debut for the Clippers, entering the game to a standing ovation in the fourth. The seven-time All-Star had missed 36 games with a bone bruise in his right knee. He made two free throws and had two rebounds in six minutes.

“When Vinny called my number, I was really nervous,” he said. “But that’s part of it, the butterflies. It’s still kind of new, getting out there and playing with this team. The most important thing is that my knee felt good. My legs were a little heavy. But I passed the test.”

The Clippers led by 13 points twice in the first half. The Magic tied the game three times in the second quarter before the Clippers restored their lead to double digits on a 3-pointer by Paul that capped a 13-0 run.

Game notes

Hill played his 998th NBA game. He hadn’t played since Oct. 13 when he had eight points and three rebounds in an exhibition game against Miami in Shanghai. … Vaughn said Davis is progressing back in Orlando and there’s “nothing negative” in his rehab. … Del Negro watched his alma mater, 20th-ranked North Carolina State, upset No. 1 Duke before his game. … Vaughn spent the team’s off day visiting his parents in nearby Pasadena, where he starred as a prep player. … Shaquille O’Neal sat courtside wearing a Dodgers hoodie, while Dodgers manager Don Mattingly attended, too.

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“Cause we’re old as s—,” said the 34-year-old Bryant when asked why a lack of energy has been a problem for the Lakers all season. “What do you want? We just got to figure out how to play when we don’t have that energy. We got to change things up a little bit defensively. We got to figure out what we want to do offensively, figure out what we want to do on nights when we don’t have those legs or have that energy.”

The 76ers beat the Lakers primarily with the contributions of 22-year-old Jrue Holiday (26 points, 10 assists) and 24-year-old Evan Turner (22 points, 13 rebounds).

“You just saw an old damn team,” Bryant continued. “I don’t know how else to put it to you. We’re just slow. You saw a team over there that was just younger and just had fresher legs and just played with more energy, and we were just stuck in the mud. I think individually we all have to figure out how to get ourselves ready each and every game to have a high level of energy. That’s all that is.”

While saddled by such circumstances, Bryant’s belief that the Lakers can make the playoffs and compete for a championship remains unshaken.

“I don’t think there’s a doubt about that,” he told ESPN Radio host Colin Cowherd on Wednesday when asked if the team is built for the playoffs. “The problem is we’ve dug ourselves such a deep hole we got to do a lot of fighting just to catch up and get in that conversation. We firmly believe it’s going to happen but we have to do a lot of fighting just to get there.”

The Lakers are 9½ games behind the 25-7 Clippers in the Pacific Division and are 10th in the Western Conference, 1½ games behind the Portland Trail Blazers for the eighth and final playoff spot. The Lakers can cut into that deficit Friday night when they play the Clippers at Staples Center.

“It’s very deep, we’re very concerned but we’ve been playing well lately,” Bryant told Cowherd in explaining his level of concern for the Lakers. “The last eight games we’ve been playing pretty well but the hole we dug ourselves at the start is very deep, so every loss now cuts a little deeper than it should. So we have to keep focused on how we’ve been playing lately and just continuing to get better from that.”

Following Tuesday’s loss, Bryant, who has managed to lead the league in scoring in this, his 17th season, said every player has to learn to create energy individually.

“It’s figuring it out,” Bryant said. “That’s a big thing when you’re starting to age, is figuring out how to get yourself ready game in and game out. It’s tough. It takes a lot, a lot of commitment.”

Added Bryant: “We didn’t seem to have any energy. You watch the game, we were kind of sluggish, kind of stuck in the mud. When we have games like that, everything is an uphill battle for us. When we play fresh, when we play energized, we’re a completely, completely different team. You saw a lot of those shots tonight falling short, for whatever reason. We got to get the proper rest and get ready for Friday.”

Pau Gasol, 32, agreed with Bryant’s assessment.

“We’re not the most athletic team in the league; we know that,” Gasol said. “But we are experienced and we should create some energy for ourselves out there, and I think it starts by us talking to each other, by communicating, by letting our team really know that we’re there [on defense], and that will create some energy that we need on that end of the floor.”

Bryant sang a similar tune after the Lakers’ previous loss, to the Denver Nuggets on Dec. 26, pinning the 12-point road blowout on how his team looked slow on the court.

“It seemed like we were a little stuck in the mud,” Bryant said in Denver. “We played old, and they played with a lot of energy, a lot of youth, got up and down, and it just seemed like we were in a lower gear all night.”

Not helping things was Dwight Howard, the lone young star in the Lakers’ lineup. Howard, who turned 27 last month, finished Tuesday with just seven points on 1-for-7 shooting to go with 14 rebounds and five blocks as he appeared to labor up and down the court.

“It’s really been frustrating for him because dealing with the injury and trying to come back and expectations that we all have for him,” Bryant said of Howard. “It’s tough to deal with that when you’re not physically the same player that you were a few years ago. It’s been frustrating for him, but to his credit, he’s been battling through it and he’s been finding ways to be effective. I mean, he had five blocks tonight.”

Howard rebutted several inquiries about the state of his back injury, for which he underwent surgery in April, saying he has not suffered any setbacks in his rehabilitation and that his mobility has not been limited by it.

“I thought he got a little tired, probably,” Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni said of Howard’s game Tuesday. “Maybe frustrated; you would have to ask him.”

D’Antoni shrugged off the game as an aberration for the former three-time defensive player of the year.

“That may be one game,” D’Antoni said. “We’ll see if it continues. I don’t think it will, hopefully. We had two days, three days off. So this should not have been a game where we were tired at all. Everybody should have had their legs.”

Howard sat on a chair staring silently into his locker for several minutes after speaking to the media, before leaving the arena for the night.

Metta World Peace, 33, refused to accept the age of the Lakers’ roster as an excuse for their play, pointing out what the New York Knicks have accomplished so far this season.

“That’s no excuse, the Knicks are playing great, so that’s no excuse,” World Peace said. “You can’t use it as an excuse for us. Thank you. Thanks for trying.”

Having an older roster hasn’t stopped the Knicks from starting the season with a 21-10 record, good enough for the second-best mark in the Eastern Conference. The Knicks started the season with an average player age of 32 years and 240 days, the oldest in NBA history, according to STATS, LLC.

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