3 takeaways: Blazers, led by Lillard, easily take down Clippers
By Minh Dao
The Portland Trail Blazers faced off with the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday at the Staples Center. It marked the halfway point of their preseason.
Portland overcame a slow start with a monstrous 43-point second quarter and ended up with the 134-106 win.
Damian Lillard paced the Blazers with 35 points including 22 in the first half. He was 9-17 from the field, 4-9 from three and 13-13 from the free throw line.
Blake Griffin, the leading man for the Clippers, had 15 points, six assists and four rebounds.
C.J. McCollum continued his better run of form with 20 points, while Jusuf Nurkić had 13 points, nine rebounds and fouled out.
Terry Stotts decided to go with Caleb Swanigan and Al-Farouq Aminu as starters. Biggie posted five points and four rebounds in 14 minutes; Chief had six points, four rebounds and three steals.
The big three bench contributors were Evan Turner, Maurice Harkless and rookie Zach Collins. They all logged 20 minutes or more.
ET ended his day with six points, eight assists and five turnovers while Harkless had 16 points on a perfect 6-6 shooting. Both are still vying for a starting role as preseason rolls on.
Collins made his play for rotation minutes with 12 points and a plus/minus of +25. Meyers Leonard also made use of his limited time with 10 rebounds in 11 minutes.
The last roster spot is still up for grabs, but no one really made an impact.
Anthony Morrow had zero points; Isaiah Briscoe scored five points; and Archie Goodwin had two points. It’s worth noting that Goodwin’s lone basket was a filthy poster.
3 Takeaways
Lillard Time
NBA circles lost their minds about mature rookie Milos Teodosic, but Lillard made sure to exploit the defensive liability that he is.
Patrick Beverley also had stints guarding Lillard, but they had no luck. 35 points in 26 minutes.
Preseason or not, that is impressive. The leaner Lillard exploded in the first half and finished the night with a true-shooting percentage of 77 percent.
Not only was he really productive, but he was also very efficient.
Rotation Watch
The first half is generally when you will be the closest to regular season rotations. With the alteration in the starting lineup, Turner and Harkless came off the bench first for the Blazers.
Next up was Collins and Ed Davis, then Morrow and Pat Connaughton was the last player used in the first half.
The ticker hit 11 for the amount of players used in the first half, with the number to be reduced to nine by opening night.
The two rookies played more minutes than Davis (and Leonard), while Morrow exceeded Connaughton in first half minutes. Leonard also didn’t play until the fourth quarter.
No matter how the starting lineup plays out, Turner, Harkless and Aminu are all set for rotation minutes. That leaves three rotation spots left. And, so far, it seems as if the two rookies and Morrow have made the best case.
Making a Statement
The Western Conference playoff picture gets murkier the further you go down. Up to 11 teams are battling for the playoff seeds as the West projects to be a bloodbath.
One of those 11 teams is expected to be the Clippers, and did Portland send a message today: a 28-point victory with their franchise player scoring 35 points.
Watch out West, the Blazers are here to stay.
Next: Swanigan, Collins should be the first reserves
Up Next
The Blazers match up against the Sacramento Kings at the Golden 1 Center on Monday night.