Led by Playoff Blake and CP3, the Clippers win game 1 easily over the Blazers, who had no real answer for the Clips. Griffin finished with 21 points, 12 rebounds and six assists en route to a 115-95 victory against a team that refused to fight size with size.
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With exciting players like Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, a strong supporting crew, the arrival of Doc Rivers to both coach and run the front office, and the purchase of the club by Steve Ballmer following the ugly departure of Donald Sterling, the keys to the city were dangling in front of the Clippers. I mean, our offense was really clicking. His energy, his endurance. Redick shot 47.5 percent from 3-point range this season. “We’ve just got to understand that the things we saw on film, we clean up some of those things, offensively and defensively, then we’ll have a chance”. “I’m not really anxious about the whole, ‘Can he get back, ‘ or, ‘Will he be able to play at a high level?’ It’s just about filling those gaps for our team and finding ways to help”.
Unfortunately, fans will have to wait a bit as there is a two-night break in between games-the Clippers and Trail Blazers won’t play Game 2 until Wednesday, April 20 at 10:30 p.m. ET.
Los Angeles increased its eight-point margin at the half into a double-digit advantage in the third quarter.
The Clippers are at full strength entering the post season as Blake Griffin has had a few games under him and should have shaken off any rust he had from missing a number of games. Jokic led all scorers with 11 points in the quarter. Stotts reportedly stood before his players in January and guaranteed they would make the playoffs if they became a top-15 defensive team, something that happened over the season’s final three months. “Obviously, it was pretty heavy in their scout (report), and we knew that coming in”. “All season long they’ve given a lot of attention to my ball screen as well as CJ, and they did a good job”. Trail Blazers G Gerald Henderson scored 16 points in 30 minutes off the bench in Game 1.2.
The Clippers dunked all over the Blazers in game one. They also had the edge on foul shots, making 14 of 19 (73.7 percent) to only three of six (50 percent) for Portland. However, Los Angeles has allowed an average of just 97.9 points per home game (ranked fifth). “So when he’s playing a physical game, and if you get too physical, he’s at the free-throw line or getting an and-1”. This team is ready to silence the doubters, especially Paul, who is still looking for his first conference finals of his career.
J.J. Redick injured his heel in the Los Angeles Clippers’ penultimate game of the regular season.
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.
Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul, right, is pressured by Portland Trail Blazers’ Damian Lillard in the first half in Game 1 of a first-round NBA basketball playoff series, on Sunday, April 17, 2016, in Los Angeles.
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Portland coach Terry Stotts said that Griffin’s explosive performance doesn’t alter the Trail Blazers’ game plan for the rest of the series. “I think the time off, the practices, the fact that now he has been back for awhile, I think that all came through tonight”.
