The Clippers were not.
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Rather than spot up Harkless out on the perimeter as a spacer, the Trail Blazers in Game 3 opted to situate him along the baseline, where his presence forced the Clippers’ backline defense to make pinpoint help decisions.
Portland turned the tables and outrebounded the Clippers 56-44 in Game 3 on Saturday at Moda Center and came away with a 96-88 victory to pull within 2-1 of the Clippers in the best-of-seven series. McCollum earned more than double the playing time per game in 2016 (34.8 MPG), as compared to his 15.7 MPG in 2015.
In the first two games of the first round series between the two teams, Damian Lillard had shot a miserable 13 out of 39 shots.
“We were active”, Lillard said.
Lillard’s backcourt teammate, C.J. McCollum, was also struggling against the Clippers, averaging 12.5 points over the first two games after averaging 20.8 points per game during the regular season.
“In my mind I always felt like I was a good player, so when you hear “most improved” you think, he was sorry, and he got better, ‘” McCollum said Friday.
Plumlee hasn’t transformed into a deft ball handler or playmaker, but he generally brings the ball up without harassment, and for most defending centers, their first instinct is to drop back on non-shooting threats-leaving the Blazers with some space to flow immediately into advantageous dribble handoffs; accounting for a few of Plumlee’s team-high nine assists. National Basketball Association commissioner Adam Silver said last week that a new rule could be instituted this summer to combat the Hack-a-DJ strategy used against the Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan and some other poor free-throw shooters around the league. Griffin had seven, but none on the offensive boards.
Despite all these successes for the hosts, the Clippers had a legitimate chance to win this game before their offense cratered in the closing moments.
Game 3 had been an obstacle for the Blazers: Last season they fell behind Memphis 3-0 in the first round and the year before they were in a 3-0 hole to San Antonio in the conference semifinals.
“We’ve got to hit first”, Paul said. “It’s rare for teams to come back from 3-0 so we got to take care of tonight”. “They’re not great shooters and stuff, but they do their jobs for their team”.
Doc Rivers is not only the coach but also the main guy in deciding who’ll be on the squad. “We’re not trying to tear the franchise down… we were a young team that ultimately had all the ingredients to be special… a lot of people to point the finger at during that time, but the bottom line is we just didn’t get it done….”
They had 7 points off turnovers to their opponents 20 points off turnovers.
His numbers from Saturday suggest otherwise.
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According to NBA.com, McCollum received 101 first-place votes and 559 total points from a panel of 130 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada. “I got looks early, I just didn’t make them”. “I think everybody felt disrespected, like that’s not what our season is gonna be”, guard Allen Crabbe said. Aminu had missed open 3 after open 3 over the first nine quarters of the series, and yet this one – contested, off-balanced, with the shot clock expiring – drops.
