Portland Trail Blazers lose heartbreaker against Los Angeles Clippers
By Dayton Brown
The LA Clippers move to 4-0 after a Blake Griffin buzzer-beater helps them beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 104-103.
The Los Angeles Clippers came into Portland 3-0, one of the few undefeated teams left in the NBA. The Portland Trail Blazers were unable to spoil their perfect record, losing at the last second.
Portland were lucky to find themselves down by nine at halftime. The team shot 35% from the field in the first half. Damian Lillard was 2-8 himself, and no bench production compensated.
They ramped up their game in the second half though. They won the third quarter, 26-18.
The final quarter was as back and forth as a game could go.
This was especially so in the final three minutes of the game.
Portland took a 101-99 lead with less than two minutes to go. The Clippers rallied back, even with an overturned blocking-to-charge foul call in Portland’s favor.
The following possession, CJ McCollum missed one of two free throws in Portland’s final touches of the game.
The rest is history.
Blake Griffin somehow found space amongst three Blazer players and sunk the game-winning three.
Lillard finished with a game-tying-high 25 points while Al-Farouq Aminu poured in 19 points, going 5-8 from the three point line. CJ McCollum had 23 points, five rebounds, and four assists.
On the other side, Blake Griffin had a dominating 25 point, eight rebound performance. He shot a blistering 62% field goal.
Austin Rivers and Danilo Gallinari has 16 each, and Rivers added six assists. Lou Williams came off the bench for 13 points in 19 minutes to help the Clippers win.
This game was close, and very physical. Rivers fouled out, and Ed Davis and Jusuf Nurkić were one away from following suit. All of which led to a heartbreaking loss for the Blazers and their fans at the hands of Griffin.
I, unfortunately, witnessed the ending in person. The game was a blast, but losses like that will leave a sour taste in your mouth.
Three Takeaways:
Chief arrived last night
Al-Farouq Aminu doesn’t have the most text-book shooting stroke. He’s a known-defender, bringing some (usually inconsistent) contributions to the offense.
Tonight, he played well on both ends of the floor. He knocked down five three-pointers, his most in one game since coming to Portland.
The Clippers were daring him to shoot, and he made them pay. Then, once they took notice and defended better, he still knocked down a few more.
It was an uncharacteristic performance for the defender, but not as surprising after seeing his progression over the past two years. He nearly helped Portland secure a win, and got the crowd on their feet like an All-Star would.
Nurkić (kind of) awoke from his slump
Yesterday, our own Brandon Goldner delved into Center Jusuf Nurkić’s early season struggles. This season was hyped up to be his coming-out, Most-Improved-Player type of year. He’s off to a slow start, but Thursday’s game may help him get back on track.
He produced impressively in the second half, finishing the game with 12 points and eight rebounds on 6-12 shooting. Those numbers aren’t eye popping, but they’re excellent signs for Nurkić’s hopeful return to form.
It’s a small step, and could very well be an outlier. However, we saw the aggressive version of our Bosnian Beast, even if he struggled early in the game as well.
The interior defense needs a lot of work… still
Blake Griffin is good. I mean, extremely good. He has the talent of an NBA superstar when healthy, and is pumping out the numbers to match. He averaged 29 points on the season coming into Thursday night, and scored easily down low.
It seemed as if Griffin scored on almost every Portland player. Davis, Evan Turner, Maurice Harkless, even Nurkić couldn’t contain the star forward.
This is more concerning than it would have been in the past. Portland came into the game with the league’s number one defensive rating, only sacrificing 100 points once in their first four games.
That glam went away. It was stunning to watch, as lack of communication and rotation execution doomed the Blazers.
Once Noah Vonleh returns, the defense will hopefully improve. Still, Thursday night’s performance was inexcusable. Adjustments need to be made defensively, and it’s best that this happens this early in the season.