The Portland Trail Blazers were cruising. The crowd was boisterous, the bench was rocking, and the Los Angeles Clippers looked cooked.
Little did everyone within a 5-mile radius of Portland know that the 57-40 lead the Trail Blazers carried just before halftime would crumble in the fourth quarter as Chris Paul took over.
Head Coach Terry Stotts had plenty of options with his team up by seven after three quarters. LaMarcus Aldridge had only played 30 minutes. Perhaps looking at how an 11-point Trail Blazers lead turned into seven in one Clippers possession late in the third should have set off a few alarm bells. LAC continued to build momentum while Portland’s best players rested on the bench. Where was Stotts’ sense of urgency in such an important game?
He waited until the lead was just one and the Trail Blazers’ offense looked about as functional as a Styrofoam hammer before putting Aldridge back in, but it was too late.
Paul was too keyed in. As the Trail Blazers rapidly lost ground, they were forced to hack poor free throw shooter DeAndre Jordan. This method paid off in spurts, but Portland was hurt by their inability to secure pivotal rebounds after each miss.
It’s extraordinarily frustrating to pick through a game that was so far in the bag that the bag was practically swallowing itself, only to watch it throw itself and its contents back up like decades-old gafilte fish. The Trail Blazers led by as many as 19 points. The Clippers got their largest comeback of the season on the shoulders of Paul and his season-high 41 points.
The Trail Blazers blew it. They knew it. The Clippers knew it. And Stotts has to know it. He was out-coached down the stretch in this one, consistently a minute behind the game’s momentum. Unable to get Aldridge going in the third, he almost completely forgot about him in the fourth. The Trail Blazers bench was too often pitted against a Clippers frontline that they were not prepared to fend off.
And that was enough to swing the momentum so hard that the Moda Center, rocking and rolling not long before, was stunned and deflated. People left early. It was sad.
The Trail Blazers needed this game and they needed it badly. It’s not the end of the world; but the pickings were easy and it slipped through their fingers in a disappointing puff of ineptitude.
Players
LaMarcus Aldridge had an insane 16-point first quarter. He had but 13 the rest of the way. The Clippers started prodding him more, pressuring him more, and all too often the Trail Blazers handled pressure clumsily. He also only had six rebounds on a night when Trail Blazers offensive rebounds were rare in crunch time.
Nicolas Batum looked much better than just a few short weeks ago. He went 7-11 from the field and 5-7 from three for 21 points, four boards, four assists, and three steals. His inconsistency is stabilizing, and his good games are starting to tip toward “great” as they did in his breakout season last year. Let’s hope the trend continues.
Damian Lillard was less of a factor than his 18 points and 10 dimes suggest. He had one stuttering stepback three which was prime, but much of his offense looked well past its pull date. Paul tends to have that effect on him.
You can’t help but be encouraged by C.J. McCollum‘s play of late. If there is a silver lining to this game besides Batum, it was McCollum’s offense: 5-6 from the field and 3-4 from deep for 13 points. It’s looking more likely that McCollum will be an important part of the Trail Blazers’ rotation come playoff time.
Robin Lopez had seven and eight, Chris Kaman had eight and seven, and neither could buy a rebound down the stretch when it really mattered. It’s hard to knock the two guys doing the majority of the dirty work that most others were unable to do, but their inability to secure a board down the stretch was really hard to watch.
Dorell Wright played very well despite a cold shooting night, but suffered a metacarpal fracture in his left hand. His status is to be determined.
X-Rays confirm Portland F Dorell Wright sustained a fracture of his 4th metacarpal bone tonight in his left hand. His status is TBD.
— Trail Blazers PR (@TrailBlazersPR) April 2, 2015
Notes
Between 5:54 and 0:47 left in the game, there were 11 rebounds. The Clippers got 10 of them. Their lead stretched from three to 10 during that time.