Boston’s defense has clearly not been the problem to start games, evident by their defensive rating in the first quarter in the regular season being a respectable 98.0, which has taken a slight hit to where it has been 99.9 in Games 1 and 2 thus far.
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“I thought we had a lot of mistakes”, he said. They know better than anyone after losing their last two Game 3′s. He’s a core player and the Clippers needed him to provide scoring to offset the barrage that was coming from Portland’s backcourt. “It helps to be at home”.
Although the outlook seems gloomy, there are still several reasons to believe that the Trail Blazers can find success in game three.
The Clippers made life miserable for Portland guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum in the first two games. Curry said how the ankle responds to the workout will be a crucial component in regards to the Game 4 decision. “I think we’re in a similar situation now”. “Just be in attack mode for 48 minutes and our entire team did that”. Paul had 13 points and six assists for the Clippers, who shot only 38.3 percent from the field in the half. This was one of the better six-point games you’ll see from a big man in this postseason.
The tables would turn in the third quarter. When you have a team down and we had a four-point lead against a team we had 2-0.
At Trail Blazers shootaround on Saturday morning, Terry Stotts shared a quote that summed up his view of Portland’s first-round series against the Los Angeles Clippers. The score was 8-8 midway through the first quarter when the Blazers went on a 9-2 run to go in front 17-10. Those players are expected to make the jump, and normally their improvement is really just a product of increased playing time. MCCollum in particular looked comfortable for the first time in the series, making the type of tough shots he typically makes but were not going down in Los Angeles. He scored in double figures in 79 games. We stayed physical. We kept fighting, made a few shots, got a couple stops. “We pushed through, we definitely pushed through at the end of the game and those are the ones you’ve got to be able to win in a playoff series”.
But the fact is that since 2008, 53 of the last 55 teams to win the first two games of an National Basketball Association playoff series have ultimately prevailed.
Mason Plumlee carved the Clippers up from the center position, contributing nine assists – a number more impactful than his 21 rebounds.
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Plumlee made one of two at the line to make it 92-86 with 45.9 seconds to play, and Lillard wrapped it up with a pair of foul shots with 23.4 ticks left. Obviously the rebounds speak for themselves. Jamal Crawford scored 17, DeAndre Jordan had 11 points and 16 rebounds. From fast-break ally-oops to precision bounce passes in the paint, Chris Paul has found a way to get Griffin and Jordan the ball for a highlight dunk. Redick (five points on 2-of-10 FG) had especially rough nights to help the Clippers finish with only three three-pointers (on 18 attempts), their lowest output of the season.
