It was a mighty formidable who’s who of Clippers in street clothes Monday.

No Kawhi Leonard (ACL), no Paul George (elbow), no Norman Powell (foot), no Robert Covington (personal) – and no Reggie Jackson nor Marcus Morris Sr. (rest and rest). Rookie Jason Preston and two-way win Jay Scrubb (foot and foot) also remain unavailable.

Moreover, big picture, it was a game of no real postseason consequence either, with the Clippers all but locked into eighth place in the Western Conference with 12 games left in the regular season.

And yet, the Clippers’ goal was unchanged, obviously, Coach Tyronn Lue said.

“Win,” he said, spelling it out pregame. “Our mindset is go out to win, to win the game.”

And, by golly, the available Clippers, they tried – taking a motivated Cleveland team (39-29) to overtime in a 120-111 loss in the second game of a back-to-back set on the road.

The nine Clippers earning a combined $32,213,956 this season filled in for teammates earning a combined $134,257,223 – and did their coach proud with their effort, if not the late-game shot-making – in his return to Cleveland, where he led the Cavaliers to three consecutive NBA Finals berths and their only title.

Lue made his first visit as the Clippers’ head coach last season, but there were no fans in attendance to greet him then. This time, a crowd of 18,742 was on hand to watch Lue’s new team give the home team all it could handle for 48 minutes.

The Clippers (36-35) overcame a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to force overtime, where they got only one 3-pointer from Nicolas Batum and a pair of free throws from Ivica Zubac before he fouled out.

The Cavs came into work Monday with much tangible to play for, entering a five-game, make-or-break homestand in sixth place in the Eastern Conference and just a game out of seventh and a date in the play-in tournament.

They’d lost eight of their past 11 games, stung by compounding injuries, including recently a lower-back issue that was bothering All-Star point guard Darius Garland for several games.

Garland played a career-high 45:40 on Monday and finished with 24 points and 13 assists.

Standout rookie Evan Mobley, the former USC star, scored a season-high 30 points. The agile 7-footer shot 13 for 22 and came up with a couple of big blocked shots.

The Clippers were led by Ivica Zubac, who had 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting, 14 rebounds (seven offensive) and two blocks. Terance Mann, in a career-high 45 minutes, also had season-high two blocks to go with his 18 points and 10 rebounds.

After a closely contested first half, the short-handed Clippers built an eight-point lead and then lost it in the third quarter, when there were three lead changes and four ties before Lue’s squad ended the quarter down, 87-81.

The Clippers buckled down defensively late, forcing Cleveland to take tough shots as they chipped away in the fourth quarter, when Zubac and Mann combined on a 9-0 run that knotted it at 100-100 with 3:11 to play.

After Mobley converted an old-fashioned 3-point play, Mann’s next 3-pointer – from 28 feet out, with 1:42 left – tied it again.

Garland’s 29-foot stepback bomb put Cleveland back in front by three.

Zubac dunked, the Clippers collected Mobley’s bobble and, when they got stuck coming back down the court on offense, Lue called timeout, his team trailing 106-105 with 34 seconds to play in the game and eight seconds on the shot clock.

Amir Coffey (19 points) got the ball and headed to the basket, drawing a blocking foul on Garland (a call that withstood Cleveland’s coach’s challenge).

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Coffey made only the first of two free throws, tying the score at 106-106 with 31.2 seconds left in regulation, when neither team could convert, sending the game to overtime.

In OT, the Clippers got back-to-block breakups, first by Zubac at the rim and Batum on an attempted lob, but the Clippers couldn’t get a shot to fall, going 0 for 6 through the first 1:56.

Batum broke the damn with a 3-pointer in the corner to cut the lead to 110-109, but then Garland let fly from 32 feet and buried it to push the Cavs’ lead back to four.

But Zubac’s two free throws were the only other points the Clippers would score as Cleveland surged away, outsourcing the Clipper 14-5 in the five-minute extra period.

More to come on this story.