Clippers at Trail Blazers
The Portland Trail Blazers became the NBA first team to reach 30 wins and look to begin adding to the total when they host the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday. Portland defeated the Los Angeles Lakers 106-94 on Sunday to secure its 30th win and post the third-best start in franchise history. “It’s a great accomplishment to have 30 wins in 38 games,” star point guard Damian Lillard told reporters. “We’ve just got to keep the same mentality that we’ve had and always remember that we are an elite team.”
Los Angeles completed a 6-3 homestand by losing 104-90 to the Miami Heat on Sunday and coach Doc Rivers was high disappointed with his club’s effort. “I thought as a group we really lacked energy,” Rivers told reporters. “From mid-second quarter on, I never thought we could get going. You could see it. I almost tore my rotator cuff trying to get our guys to go.” The Clippers defeated the Trail Blazers 106-102 on Nov. 8 when J.J. Redick scored a season-best 30 points and Chris Paul added 22 points and 11 assists.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), CSN Northwest (Portland)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS (25-13): Los Angeles has won nearly two-thirds of its games but the belief remains that the team isn’t clicking on all cylinders. “The 25 wins, it’s cool, a decent record, probably what we were last year,” forward Blake Griffin told reporters. “But it’s more about the way we play. We can be better than this, and I think we all know that.” Griffin is among the players who can do more – he’s averaging 22.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and shooting 49.2 percent from the field, all down from last season’s marks of 24.1 points, 9.5 rebounds and a 52.8 percentage.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (30-8): Portland has won 13 of its last 15 games and taken a strong step upward through the first half of the season to appear to be a solid postseason contender. “Last year we were a young team and we were new to winning,” Lillard told reporters. “I think now we are one of those teams. We perform at a high-level consistency and we win without depending on offense.” Standout power forward LaMarcus Aldridge had just 15 points and nine rebounds against the Lakers to end a streak of 10 straight 20-point outings.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Clippers are 18-85 all-time when playing at Portland.
2. The Trail Blazers are 18-3 at home this season.
3. Paul moved into 20th place on the all-time assists list Sunday with 6,477, passing Nate Archibald (6,476).