The clock is ticking on the Charlotte Hornets’ transition to experimentation.

After losing 123-103 to Toronto Sunday, coach Steve Clifford admitted there comes a point when the playoffs are a lost cause and the Hornets are close. He’s not ready to give up, but the reality is barring a major turnaround, this team is playing for jobs and the draft lottery.

“Sure you evaluate guys, or once you’re eliminated you do it,” he said. I wouldn’t look to do that now.  These first eight to 10 games after the All-Star break would tell the story. That’s not at all what I think is going to happen.  I think that we have it in us and that’s what I just talked to them about.”

The week-long All-Star break, which starts Wednesday, is an opportunity for self-reflection and renewal. The Hornets, who’ve lost four straight could use both, but forward Marvin Williams recalled a similar scenario when Charlotte fought to contend for a playoff berth.

“Obviously, if I’m Toronto and I’m rolling, I wouldn’t want the all-star break to come since they’re playing so well,” he said. “But for a team like us that is trying to regroup a little bit, get a little bit healthier, guys are kind of banged up. You know it could be a good break for us. I remember a couple of years ago we weren’t playing as well as we wanted to either. We kind of stepped away and looked at ourselves in the mirror and came back and were ready to go and made a good run, so I’m really hoping we can repeat that again this year.”

Center Dwight Howard, who tallied 17 points and 13 rebounds for his 35^th double-double of the campaign, is holding out for a late-season surge. Charlotte is 23-33 and 10^th in the Eastern Conference standings, five games behind No. 8 Philadelphia.

“Every season, every team goes through things during the season and it’s always ups and downs, stuff like that,” he said. “Some teams are just built for the playoffs, some teams have really good starts to a season but they fizzle, out so hopefully we can get hot at the right time.”

Although this Hornets team hasn’t been able to cobble together a significant success, Clifford believes there’s always an opportunity to turn things around. Finding that switch, however, is difficult, which means the clock is ticking on when to experiment.

“I’ve done this for a long time and I’ve been on both sides of it,” he said. “Every coach will tell you, you get up in the morning and ask ‘Where are we at and what do we need to do to get ready for tomorrow?’  That’s the way you live.  When you start looking at a month from now, I’m going to do this, it doesn’t work that way.”

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