The Portland Trail Blazers took full advantage of the Los Angeles Clippers injury woes on Wednesday to score a convincing 108-98 victory and claim a pivotal 3-2 series lead in their Western Conference playoff battle.
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As described by Brian Palmer of Slate – and many others in the last few years – we love rivalries not only because our brains are wired to understand meaning in terms of contrasts but also because the psychological rewards of conquering an opponent during a competition are familiar. “Yeah, it’s possible. I have seen a lot of criticism when (coach Frank Vogel) has taken me out, but we’re supposed to maintain that lead whoever is in there”. “Hopefully you learn and you’re better prepared to do it”. That’s not conditioning, that was emotion. But Lillard responded with a much improved second half and put the game away in the fourth, scoring 16 of his 22 points in the period to lock up a pivotal win.
Lillard, who had six points through the first three quarters, sparked the Blazers in the fourth. While the Clippers still dominated Portland in the paint, the duo of Austin Rivers and J.J.
DeAndre Jordan, Jamaal Crawford, J.J. Redick and Jeff Green led the way for the Clippers in the absence of Paul and Griffin. After the spring of 2014 when an embattled Clippers franchise advanced to the second round (and past their blatantly racist owner), the Warriors have dominated their meetings since while the teams were never simultaneously good enough prior to Mark Jackson’s arrival for it to even be considered a meaningful competition. “The series isn’t over so we don’t know who we’re playing so I don’t want to give them two teams”. Usually the home team gets off to the quick start. Most recently, Maurice Harkless has been the most consistent fourth player in addition to Lillard, McCollum and Plumlee, at least offensively.
One of the most impressive aspects of Portland’s three-game winning streak is the contributions that the Trail Blazers are getting from the supporting cast around Damian Lillard and C.J. “There was a guy on the weak side, so they couldn’t have a guy over-helping, and we executed really well down the stretch and was able to get some looks, and we knocked down shots”.
Erik Gundersen is the Trail Blazers beat reporter for The Columbian. He opened with a 3-pointer, hit another one and then dunked off his steal of Pablo Prigioni. However, Rivers logged just three assists and the team was outscored by 23 points over the roughly 37 minutes he was on the court. While he was recovering from that injury, he punched a Clippers equipment manager, which pushed back his timeline even further and got him suspended for four healthy games on top of that.
“Experience, I do think it helps”, Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer said.
The fact that Rivers lost his two best players at such a crucial time may well have created an emotional environment in the locker room, and that seemingly carried over to his pregame press conference Wednesday. After regaining his composure, Rivers said the question made him think of his late mom Bettye, who died in June 2015 after a lengthy illness.
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Paul sat on the bench in the first half and winced when he bumped his surgically repaired right hand.
