Portland coach Terry Stotts said that Griffin’s explosive performance doesn’t alter the Trail Blazers’ game plan for the rest of the series. And with the way Game One went, there’s probably no point in the Trail Blazers remembering the occasion.
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The Rhythm & Blues of CJ McCollum play after Trail Blazers’ struggles in Game 1: By the time he returned to his Marina del Rey hotel after Sunday night’s Game 1 playoff loss, CJ McCollum was in a special kind of mood. “(Sunday), I thought was the first day that he had great timing as well, so that was good for us”. “That’s what we have to manage right now”. They were 0 for 2 from 3-point range in the first half, a season low for attempts in a half…. Their only lead was by one point in the second quarter of the first postseason meeting between the teams.
In short, the Clippers’ power forward looked close to being himself Sunday night when the Clippers defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 115-95 in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference playoff series before a sellout crowd of 19,122 at Staples Center. They kept pushing in the second half, extending their lead to 21 at one point in the third quarter behind superb play from Paul and some thunderous dunks from Griffin.
Redick has been so important to the Clippers, and he made 8 of 12 shots even though he said his injured heel “still has a long ways to go” and that he’s still anxious about injuring something else trying to overcompensate for it. “As long as he’s in there, it’s something you have to employ”.
“I just tried to change direction, missed the shot, and tried to get back on defense, and then slipped a little bit and felt it slip or tweak”, he said after the game.
LaMarcus Aldridge collected 17 points, Tony Parker and Patty Mills scored 15 points each for the Spurs and Kevin Martin added 10 points, all in the fourth quarter. The disparity was evident from the opening tip, with Portland sticking Al-Farouq Aminu on Griffin, hopeful its speed and shooting would be enough to overcome the size-related drawback. Gerald Henderson contributed with 16 points off the bench. Lillard leads in points with 25.1 and in assists with 6.8 per game.
“Going into it, we were going to treat him like Blake Griffin”, said Stotts.
Paul registered 28 points, six rebounds, 11 assists, with two steals.
“Their guys played well”, said Ed Davis, who finished with six points and eight rebounds in 19 minutes. Since 2008, 53 of the last 55 teams to win the first two games of an National Basketball Association playoff series have ultimately prevailed.
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“Now you have to think ahead and try to see what, if you were in their position, what adjustments you would make and be prepared for that”, Wade said. Lillard helped drag the team to the playoffs despite losing four veteran starters from a playoff team last season and needs more help from McCollum, who struggled to nine points on 3-of-11 shooting in Game 1.ABOUT THE CLIPPERS: Integrating Griffin back into the rotation after an absence of over three months was a focus for the team in the final two weeks of the regular season, and he looked comfortable in Game 1.
