LOS ANGELES — The Clippers’ game against the Houston Rockets on Thursday night was their 61st this season, which, according to Elias Sports Bureau, ties the record for most games played by a team before an All-Star Game, which is Sunday in Cleveland.

They share that distinction with the 1950-51 Tri-Cities Blackhawks and 2017-18 Minnesota Timberwolves. And Reggie Jackson holds the distinction as the active Clipper averaging the most minutes per game.

The 31-year-old point guard was averaging a career-high 30.9 minutes per game entering Thursday – a workload that won’t taper off significantly with the Clippers’ current roster construction.

They traded Eric Bledsoe – who was operating as the Clippers’ backup point guard – to Portland in the deal that brought defensive wing Robert Covington and offensive-minded guard Norman Powell (who is out indefinitely with a fracture in his left foot).

Without Bledsoe, Jackson was averaging 32.7 minutes per game.

He’s been backed up lately by third-year wing Terance Mann, who has handled the ball more and performed well doing it. In his six games since the deal entering Thursday, he was averaging 13.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4 assists – and had a team-best plus-minus of plus-4. And Mann, 25, has seen his minutes shoot upward too, to 31.3 per game.

But it’s mileage that seemed to be catching up with both players down the stretch of the Clippers’ spirited 103-96 loss against league-leading Phoenix – their second game against one of the NBA’s top teams in as many nights.

Jackson played all 12 minutes of the fourth quarter on Tuesday, when the Clippers outscored the Suns 24-22 – and he shot 2 for 8 overall (0 for 3 from 3-point range).

Mann played only 30 seconds of the final period on Tuesday, when he finished the game with just two points after having posted four consecutive games in double digits, including two in a row of 20-plus.

“The other night on the back-to-back, (Jackson) got tired and I definitely overused him, but not having –,” Lue said, changing course before mentioning the second traditional ball handler that the Clippers don’t currently employ.

“It’s put a lot of pressure on T-Mann in the backcourt, picking up full court. (The Suns) got into us at all five positions really with (Jae) Crowder getting into us and CP (Chris Paul) getting into us, and we didn’t really have that playmaker on the floor, so we had to play Reggie a little bit more than I wanted to. But we got to be careful with it.”

But, Lue said: “One thing about Reggie, he wants to compete every night, he wants to play, he doesn’t want to sit down … He wants to play. He wants to play, so you definitely got to protect him from himself.”

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And Mann, how’s that young man – who averaged 18 minutes per game last season and just eight as a rookie – holding up?

“Yeah, I played him a lot of minutes in that Golden State game, I think 18 or 19 straight minutes, but, what is he, 19 years old?” said a chuckling Lue – who played Mann 19 minutes, 22 seconds straight in the second half of the Clippers’ 119-104 victory over the Warriors on Monday.

“Whoever’s playing well is gonna play and finish the game,” Lue said. “You saw RoCo the other night (he played 14 straight against Golden State); I thought his defense, his intensity was great and he played the whole fourth quarter when Nico (Batum) had played great the first three quarters. So it’s just kind of a feel.

“I just try to go with the guys who are playing well at the moment, and our team understands that.”