April 27, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Portland Trail Blazers center Mason Plumlee (24) defends as Los Angeles Clippers guard Austin Rivers (25) loses control of the ball in the second half of game five of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Staples Center.
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When we watch the Clippers Trail Blazers game live streaming or on TV tonight, LA won’t name starters to replace Paul and Griffin until shortly before the game starts. The Clippers lost both their games in Portland earlier this round, but led by four points with fewer than four minutes left in Game 3 and only trailed by four points early in the fourth quarter of Game 4. Jeff Green also had 17 off the bench and DeAndre Jordan had 16 points and 17 rebounds.
His team rallied a bit, finishing the third quarter tied with Portland at 71.
The Portland Trail Blazers are now one win away from advancing to the Western Conference Semifinals.
At one point in the fourth quarter, the Blazers led by 17 points.
Game 6: Friday at Portland, 7:30 p.m.
“We (were) in the same situation a year ago”, Crawford said.
Lillard and McCollum, the league’s Most Improved Player, combined for an 8-0 run, with both hitting 3-pointers that extended Portland’s lead to 102-86.
However, it was Lillard, sinking four of six 3-point attempts in the final period, who allowed the Trail Blazers to seize control and put themselves on the verge of securing a second-round matchup with the defending champion Golden State Warriors.
It was assumed that the Clippers would struggle without their superstars, but struggle wasn’t even the half of it. Rivers has developed into a capable defender, but Lillard was able to navigate his pressure throughout the night.
“I think our guys felt like we had a chance to win last night’s game”, Rivers said.
“Same as they’ve always been”, Stotts said when asked how the team was on the morning of Game 6. Coach Rivers needed to inject some offense into the lineup with Paul and Griffin out with injuries, so he went with Austin River and Jamal Crawford but it just didn’t work out.
The Hornets have won three straight games in the series, and will take a 3-2 lead into a potential Game 6 clincher on Friday night.
The tough part for them, as Clippers coach Doc Rivers says, is not getting too caught up thinking ahead with the opportunity they have.
There’s only two issues: No Chris Paul and no Griffin.
“Once he gets an open look and he gets to see that ball go in, his eyes kind of light up, and we know he’s going to finish the game off”, McCollum said of his backcourt mate.
“We’ll be better”, Doc Rivers said.
Trail Blazers: They had six players in double figures.
Trailing 3-2 in the series, they know they’ve been here before.
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Paul, who broke his right hand in the previous game, opted to have surgery, while Griffin aggravated his quad injury. Almost matching McCollum, though, Crawford contributed nine points in the period for the Clippers. Of course, Rivers isn’t Paul and shouldn’t be compared to him, but logging just three assists in almost 40 minutes of action isn’t good enough – even noting that he is missing some of his biggest weapons on offense. The Warriors (excluding Curry) had six of them (Green, Thompson, Festus Ezeli, Marreese Speights, James Michael McAdoo, and Andrew Bogut).
