Before Sunday night’s game at Staples Center, the Trail Blazers and Clippers had never met in the postseason.
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In the playoffs, the Clippers’ stars will play big minutes, but if the Blazers can hang on during the early and late parts of the game, they could manage to get enough separation against the Clippers lack of depth. In our playoff preview series, we will take a look at some of the more intriguing questions surrounding these first round matchups.
Portland will facing the daunting task of facing Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan in the first round – a team that, somehow, has nearly gotten lost in the Western Conference shuffle this season. They’re big and traditional.
“I thought it was the best he’s played since he’s come back from his injury”, Stotts said. With Los Angeles’ sights fixated on Portland’s backcourt, Davis found his way for a wide-open slam dunk, and Henderson slipped to the rim on a attractive inbounds play to pull the Blazers within two. Portland has two former Clippers in small forward Al-Farouq Aminu and backup center Chris Kaman.
Well, here we are.The Blazers have gone 33-18 since the slow start, and since the All-Star break, rank third in the National Basketball Association in points per game, third in offensive rating, and second in three-point percentage.
Portland Trail Blazers playoff schedules weren’t supposed to go out this year.
Damian Lillard, for all his incredible talent and leadership, will be pressed when matched up against Chris Paul, whose ability to attack and score from multiple ears, as well as make nearly every pass in the book, is going to be a problem. “We had guards on him sometimes”.
“You don’t know what you are really until you’re tested, but these guys have been tested all year”, Rivers said. If you get too physical, then it’s a foul, because, you know, he’s spinning in there and jumping in the middle of the spin, and it’s tough to defend. There’s a very real possibility that the Clippers run 22 consecutive Paul pick-and-rolls in the fourth quarter of close games and score on 19 of them.
Jumpers from Paul and Jamal Crawford pushed the Clipper lead as large as 21 and Los Angeles looked thoroughly in control.
“He was great, assertive”.
Coach Doc Rivers loved Griffin’s high-flying act. “In the first half we played them really well”. “Maybe I need to just take it up a level and make my team a better team and help my whole team get to the next level and win games, because that’s ultimately what counts.’ I just took it as a challenge to raise the level of my play and try to make my team a more successful team from that point on”. He first lifted the crowd in attendance at the Staples Center by knocking over Portland guard Damian Lillard on a post-up before posterising Mason Plumlee midway through the opening quarter.
The Clippers shot 54 percent and allowed Portland just five second-chance points. There will be no shortage of intriguing subplots over the next two weeks starting tonight in Los Angeles.
DeAndre Jordan: 18 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks.
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Just more than two minutes later, he made a nice little spin move in the paint and finished off the sequence with a layup.
