The Clippers didn’t play great, but “not bad” was enough for an easy win against an awful Trailblazers team missing Jerami Grant.
Summary
The Clippers got off to a quick starter on offense, moving the ball well against a hapless Trailblazers defense and not settling for jumpers. On defense, the Clippers did a good job of shutting down Damian Lillard, but was at the expense of letting Jusuf Nurkic get going inside, as the Blazers’ big had 13 points in the firs six minutes or so. Nonetheless, a Kawhi-led run got the Clippers out to a 30-15 advantage with about 3:30 to go. The Blazers went on an 8-0 run, the Clippers answered with two threes from Kawhi and Gordon, and then the Blazers came right back with another 7-0 run, getting the score to 36-30 after one.
Paul George, who only played four minutes in the first quarter due to foul trouble, started the 2nd with the bench unit, but the Clippers’ continued to let the Blazers push. The Clippers’ offense moved the ball well at various points, but now it was their defense that was suffering, and the Blazers got it to 44-42 with 7:45 to go, forcing acting Clippers’ head coach Dan Craig (Ty Lue was out sick) to bring all the starters back. There followed a couple minutes of extremely sloppy play on both sides, during which the Clippers were better enough to get a 52-46 lead. At that point, both teams started to score with a bit more ease, and the Clippers’ lead was 59-55 at halftime.
An early run by the Clippers pushed the lead up to 11, as they once again attacked the basket against the soft Portland defense. The Blazers pushed back, cutting the lead to two, but the Clippers then restored order after a couple minutes of wild up-and-down action, pushing the lead back to 10. The rest of the quarter went in a state of stasis, as the lead hung right around 10 points the rest of the period until it ended, with the Clippers leading 93-83.
Ultimately, I don’t have much to say about the 4th quarter, as the outcome was never in question. The Trailblazers got the lead down to six at one point early, but the Clippers quickly pushed it back to 10, and it remained in double digits the rest of the game. The Clippers didn’t really do much great, but got just enough shots to fall to pull ahead of the frigid Blazers and secure the easy 117-102 victory.
Notes
Standings Watch: It was a low-key affair today in the NBA with not a ton of games, but the Thunder did beat the Suns, and the Lakers triumphed over the Magic. The Clippers are just a single loss back of the Suns for 4th, but remain just about totally out of reach of the 2 or 3 seeds. The difference is that they’re finally starting to get some breathing room below them. The Clips are two losses ahead of the play-in, and three ahead of the bottom of the play-in. If they can win seven of their last 10 games against an easy schedule, they should be able to hold onto a playoff spot. Even six victories and 44 wins total might do the trick in a weak Western Conference.
Closers Watch: The Clippers closed the game with their starting unit, but Eric Gordon (28 minutes) over Marcus Morris (24 minutes). Russell Westbrook did not play well (don’t let the near triple-double fool you) yet still earned the close (and 34 minutes) over Terance Mann and Nic Batum (16 apiece). Nico and Terance seem to be fading in the rotation even with Norm Powell still out, while Gordon is on the ascendant. It will be interesting to see how Norm’s return shakes up the rotations.
Medals: I went into depth on the medals on The Lob The Jam The Pod, but I gave Ivica Zubac the Gold for 14 points, 10 rebounds, exceptional defense, and a team-leading +26. Paul George took home the silver behind a stellar second half, scoring 29 points on 22 shots and chipping in nine boards, four dimes, four steals, and just two turnovers. Finally, Eric Gordon placed 3rd with 20 points on 7-9 shooting and some key buckets in the second half. Kawhi Leonard, for the first time in seemingly forever, was just “fine” in this one – yet still had 24 points on 20 shots in a game-high 40 minute
