INGLEWOOD — Before Monday night's game against the Memphis Grizzlies, Clippers head coach Ty Lue talked about seeing some progress from his struggling team, pointing to recent close games and better defensive effort as signs they were heading in the right direction. 

That optimism didn't last long once the game tipped off at the Intuit Dome.

The Clippers suffered a demoralizing 121-103 loss to the Grizzlies, dropping to 6-20 on the season and extending their misery at home. It was their 12th loss in the past 14 games, and they haven't won at their home arena since Halloween. 

After the final buzzer, both Kawhi Leonard and James Harden left the locker room without speaking to reporters, a telling sign of the frustration gripping this franchise.

When Things Get Hard

Lue's message after the loss was blunt and direct, and it centered on mental toughness when adversity strikes. "I think mentally, I think when it gets hard, you got to get tougher," Lue said. "We can be playing good basketball and a couple of things go wrong and they're like, 'here we go again' instead of having a mindset that we got to get tougher, we got to get stronger and then do things even better."

The Clippers never really had a chance on Monday, as the Grizzlies controlled the game from start to finish and the home team couldn't generate much resistance. 

Jaren Jackson Jr. led Memphis with 31 points on an efficient 13-of-18 shooting, scoring 21 of those points in the first half alone, and the Clippers committed 12 turnovers before halftime that helped the Grizzlies build a 56-48 lead.

Stars Struggle, Then Stay Silent

Leonard led the Clippers with 21 points, but it wasn't nearly enough against Memphis' offensive firepower, and Kris Dunn added 17 points while Ivica Zubac grabbed 13 rebounds with just six points. 

Harden, playing through a calf injury that clearly limited his movement, managed only 13 points, three rebounds, and six assists in a performance that showed he wasn't himself.

The veteran guard wore a wrap on his lower leg and lacked his usual explosiveness after being listed as questionable before the game.

"I mean James wants to play every night and just having the mindset to try to gut it out for us was huge," Lue said. "And you could tell he wasn't himself throughout the whole course of the game and we just kept checking on him, kept trying to monitor it and just giving respect for just trying to get out there."

Organizational Turmoil

The decision by both Leonard and Harden to leave without addressing the media added another layer to what has been a turbulent season for the Clippers. 

The franchise recently parted ways with Chris Paul in early December after tensions between the veteran point guard and the team arose and they had been unable to find any consistency since their strong start to the season faded.

The Grizzlies, who improved to 11-14 with the win, got 27 points from Cam Spencer in a career performance, and they've now beaten the Clippers three times in less than three weeks. 

Ja Morant, playing on a minutes restriction in just his second game back from a 10-game absence due to ankle issues, added 12 points in 21 minutes.

The Clippers briefly regained the lead in the third quarter on a three-pointer by Dunn, but Memphis responded with a 9-0 run that put the game out of reach and exposed the fragile mindset Lue referenced after the game. 

"We didn't score the ball, especially at the start of the second quarter," Lue said. "I thought their size hurt us when they had (Jock) Landale and Jackson in the game together, but I thought we did it to ourselves a couple of times, just not running the right offense."

With the loss, the Clippers sit tied with the Sacramento Kings for 14th place in the Western Conference standings, just ahead of the 5-22 New Orleans Pelicans. 

The schedule doesn't get any easier, and the questions about this team's ability to compete or even its willingness to fight through adversity are only getting louder after another disappointing performance at home.