The Clippers needed to change something. They had lost four in a row, Kawhi Leonard was still on the bench in street clothes, and any conversation about an NBA title was growing increasingly quiet.

So, coach Tyronn Lue took aim at the lineup and inserted guard Luke Kennard into the starting lineup for the first time this season.

“I just wanted to do something different,” Lue said before the game.

The lineup was different, but the difference in the game was once again Paul George. His presence on the court in the final minute gave the Clippers a 95-93 victory over the Houston Rockets, snapping a four-game losing streak.

With less than 45 seconds remaining in the game and the Clippers trailing, 93-90, George buried a 27- foot 3-pointer to tie the game.

He then stole the ball on the ensuing play and after Lue called a timeout, George made the winning basket with 6.2 seconds left.

George finished with 35 points on 15-of-26 shooting, nine rebounds and eight assists.

It was George’s fifth career game with at least 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals.

“When you win, you feel good. When you are losing, you are going to have frustration, you are going to be mad,” Lue said before the game. “You should be (mad).

“We have got to play better. Even though we are mad and frustrated, we do have to play better. If we win, everyone feels good.”

It seemed everyone went home from Crypto.com Arena happy after the Clippers won there for the first time in nearly a month.

Clippers were right there in the second half, a few shots from resembling the team that they thought they were before the season started.

But injuries, illnesses and personal reasons have wreaked havoc with the lineups and rotations, something the Clippers will continue to deal with in the near future.

Leonard will not travel with the team to Texas for games against Houston and San Antonio, instead staying behind in Los Angeles to get treatment on his surgically repaired right knee. That means he will have missed seven of the Clippers’ first nine games and six straight — with no end date in sight.

“He’s frustrated,” Lue said. “He wants to be out on the floor and then not being on the floor, and then now he can’t travel. He wants to travel but the doctor said it’s not the right thing to do right now with the stiffness and what he is going through.”

The Clippers also were without guard John Wall (left knee injury management) and Robert Covington (health and safety protocols).

Lue said the Clippers cannot use any of that as excuses. He said every team has injuries and must juggle lineups.

“There’s no excuses,” Lue said. “Every team goes through it. We just happen to be one of those teams that go through it all the time. But it’s no excuse. We have to be better; we understand that — and it’s from the coaches to the players. We have to figure this out.”

The Clippers started the game in a more spirited fashion, attacking the basket with a renewed efficiency, shooting 57.1% from the field in the first quarter.

George had 12 points in the opening quarter as his teammates repeatedly found him in the open court.