LOS ANGELES — The Clippers were forced to debut another new starting lineup on Wednesday, sending out their seventh this season – and fifth in the last six games.

This one was missing a valuable piece: All-Star Paul George, who was sidelined for the game against the Boston Celtics with shoulder pain.

Without him (and All-Star Kawhi Leonard, of course, who remains sidelined indefinitely while rehabbing from ACL surgery in July), the Clippers started Ivica Zubac, Reggie Jackson, Marcus Morris Sr. and, in his first game back since Nov. 19, Nicolas Batum and, for the first time this season, Terance Mann.

Batum was back in action after missing nine consecutive games after entering into the NBA’s health and safety protocols.

George – who is averaging 25 points, a career-high 5.4 assists and 7.3 rebounds per game – was scratched officially after taking a stab at warming up before the game and then deciding against playing.

Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said he thought George’s right elbow was hurt in the Clippers’ victory at Portland on Monday.

Before Wednesday, George – who dealt with bursitis in his shooting forearm throughout the 2017-18 season in Oklahoma City – had missed only one game (for rest, on Dec. 1 against Sacramento) out of 25 this season.

The seven-time All-Star from Palmdale has cooled after a fiery start to the season, in which he was averaging 27 points and shooting 46.4% from the field and 35.8% from 3-point range through Nov. 7 – when he was recognized as the Western Conference’s Player of the Week.

In his seven most recent games, George, 31, was shooting 37.2% from the field and just 22.4% from behind the arc. In that same span, he led the Clippers with 1.7 steals and 5.9 assists per game, as well as 6.3 rebounds – the second-most on the team.

Without George, Batum’s return was all the more welcome.

“It’s good to have him back,” said Lue, who sought to temper expectations of the Clippers’ multi-faceted forward. “We know it’s gonna take a little time for him to work his way into shape, but just having him back just having him at shootaround today, be around the team, just good to see so just having him back on the floor.

“We don’t expect him to come back and set the world on fire, but just having him on the floor and have another IQ guy, a guy who can defend multiple positions, make a shot, play the right way – it’s just good to have him back on the floor.”

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As for Mann, Lue said he opted to start the Massachusetts native against Boston because he thought he’d be able to count on his physicality.

“Defensively, with (Dennis) Schröder and Marcus Smart and (Jayson) Tatum and then they start big with (Al) Horford and Robert Williams,” Lue said. “So just physically, just his matchup and who we want him to guard.”

Sacramento coach Alvin Gentry recently praised Mann’s defensive contributions in particular when asked generally about the Clippers’ defense, which has the third-best rating (104.5) in the league this season – even without Leonard, twice an NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

“I think one of the more underrated players in the league really is Terance Mann,” Gentry said. “He’s a multiple-position guy, he can guard really one through four, and he keeps the pressure on you. In general, they’re a good solid defensive team.”

Paul George only took a couple of shots, and then went to the back. Was a very short shootaround. He has some tape & medicine on his elbow. It didn’t look very encouraging as a game-time decision. pic.twitter.com/RLwhdMpfvS

— Farbod Esnaashari (@Farbod_E) December 9, 2021