Clippers at Trail Blazers
The Los Angeles Clippers put together a strong effort without their injured superstars but in the end did not have enough to overcome the Portland Trail Blazers at home in Game 5. The Clippers will try to muster up enough to extend the series when they visit the Trail Blazers in a potential elimination Game 6 on Friday.
Los Angeles lost All-Star point guard Chris Paul (broken hand) and star forward Blake Griffin (quad) for the rest of the postseason in a Game 4 loss and could not find enough offense late to avoid a 108-98 loss at home in Game 5. “(The players) heard the same thing that (the media) said, you know, for 48 hours,” Doc Rivers said. “’Hard game, can they win?’ So, I liked the emotion, but they didn’t sustain it. Like, the pace we played at in the first half was terrific, we just couldn’t sustain the pace.” Portland weathered the early emotional storm from the Clippers and found its stride offensively in the second half, giving itself a chance to close out the series at home. “We want to close the series out,” guard C.J. McCollum told reporters. “We’ve got a unique opportunity here to play an elimination game at home, and we want to make sure we take full advantage of it.”
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, Prime Ticket (Los Angeles), KGW (Portland)
ABOUT THE CLIPPERS: Future Hall of Famer and former NBA champion Paul Pierce started in place of Griffin and went scoreless in 10 minutes while Sixth Man of the Year Jamal Crawford started in place of Paul in Game 5 and went 6-of-23 from the floor in 44 minutes. “I was a little winded,” Crawford told reporters. “But what can you do at this point? You have to find a way.” Austin Rivers moved into the starting lineup as well but it was J.J. Redick managing a team-high 19 points in the loss while Jeff Green came off the bench to add 17 points in 37 minutes.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS: Portland star guard Damian Lillard was 1-of-10 from the floor in the first three quarters on Wednesday before exploding for 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting in the final period to help put the game away. “I’ve always been able to put the first three quarters behind me and come up big when my team has needed it,” said Lillard. “All my teammates throughout the game, they just kept saying, ‘keep shooting, stay with it, stay aggressive, keep your mind right.’ I would have been doing that all along, but it felt good to have that encouragement and that support. … I just had to be patient.” Lillard finished with 22 points in the win while McCollum matched his series high with 27.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The winner of the series will take on the defending champion and top-seeded Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference semifinals.
2. Portland SF Al-Farouq Aminu, who scored a career-high 30 points in Game 4, managed seven on 1-of-6 shooting on Wednesday.
3. Los Angeles C DeAndre Jordan collected 16 points and 17 rebounds in Game 5 for his third double-double of the series.