Portland Trail Blazers 83, Los Angeles Clippers 96
Clippers lean on Blake Griffin to end their losing streak
Los Angeles played like a team protecting their pride tonight, straight up. From the tip they ran their entire offense through Griffin, who started off shooting poorly but had six assists in the first quarter alone. After that he barely missed, even from the foul line (and if that keeps up, watch out. He could easily average 22 a night) where he went 5-6. Honestly, the Clips just overwhelmed the Blazers and as much as I hate the “tired legs” excuse, a team that plays it’s starters as much as Portland does is bound to look bad in the second game of back-to-backs.
The last half of the second quarter was the formidable stretch of the game. Caron Butler had a potential four point play taken away with a (dubious) foul call followed by a J.J. Hickson 3 point play and a Damian Lillard three to tie the game at 46. But shortly thereafter Griffin takes over and scores seven points in the last 2:00 of the half. The Blazers responded by scoring all of 12 points in the third quarter and the outcome was pretty much settled.
Game Plan
Nic Batum took my “decoy” idea and ran with it. He took five shots the entire game and no threes. I don’t think he’s the type of player than can use the first half to involve his teammates then flip the switch at halftime and become a scorer like some great players can (Chris Paul, Kevin Durant, LeBron come to mind). I think he’s better served doing the opposite, drawing his defender out with his jumper early and using it to create advantages that leave his teammates open. He did have eight assists, but this Blazers team needs him shooting much more often than he did tonight to win games.
Matchup to Watch
LaMarcus Aldridge vs. Blake Griffin
As I suspected LaMarcus Aldridge came out of the gate playing with purpose and shooting the ball well. However, this game turned out not to revolve around his matchup with Griffin. Rather, the role players for the Clippers contributed as they hadn’t in the last meeting and the Blazer bench could only manage 12 points (not counting Nolan Smith’s four points in extreme garbage time). From now on, bench vs. bench is a legitimate choice for the Matchup to Watch.
Notes & Links
- Comcast SportsNet ran an incorrect version of the upcoming schedule all evening. ALL EVENING.
- I am not looking forward to the home-and-home with Utah, mostly because I don’t know anything about them this season. My gut tells me they’re boring but reasonably good. Some things never change.
- Luke Babbitt played 12 completely worthless minutes tonight that are not worthy of any further discussion.
- LA missed a bunch of shots right at the rim in the first half, especially Eric Bledsoe. It seemed like one of those things that might persist and give Portland a chance to steal another win but of course it didn’t. The Clippers ended up with 56 points in the paint for the second game in a row.
- Ronny Turiaf is one of the more demonstrative players in the NBA, isn’t he?
Next Game
vs. Dallas Mavericks # Tuesday, January 29 @ 7:00 pm PST # Rose Garden Arena
Following the Trail 