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Clippers Soar Over Blazers 115-95

Clippers Big 3

Portland Trailblazers big man Ed Davis said before beginning this series against the Los Angeles Clippers that his team would have to make it “ugly”. Well Ed, that was a pretty ugly game from your Blazers. Not quite as ugly as your free throws but then again DeAndre Jordan is on the Clippers so I’ll keep quiet on that front.

The Clippers big three stole the show Sunday night at Staples Center as the trio looked as though they’d been at this all year. The “rust” Blake Griffin was supposed to encounter having had little recovery time from injury had clearly been shaken, as the Los Angeles forward made bullying Portland center Mason Plumlee look much too easy with several high-flying slams.

Doc Rivers entered game number one of this first round with the big question of how to cover the Blazers stellar guards. Damian Lillard had an easy answer as Chris Paul had been able to hold him quiet in almost all of their matchups this season. But what about C.J. McCollum? The third year man out of Lehigh has come into his own this season and is a true scoring threat every time he comes down the floor. So Rivers made the only logical choice. To put his second best perimeter defender on him, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. The move paid off. McCollum would be held to just 9 points on the night. Meanwhile Lillard did what he could with 21 points but his frustration became very clear with the trap immediately after he crossed half court causing problems and Paul wasn’t letting him get away anything uncontested. 

Offensively the strategy from Rivers seemed simple enough, find the mismatch on the floor and exploit it. It worked to perfection for Griffin in particular who the Blazers just didn’t have a match for. Former Clipper and current Blazer forward Al-Farouq Aminu was simply not strong enough in the post and Griffin was able to take advantage early. Seemingly it didn’t matter who they put on Griffin as he was able to put together a fantastic performance that saw him on triple-double watch with 19 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists. 

Paul and Jordan had similar success. A great storyline coming into the contest would be Paul and Lillard duking it out at the top of the key but it would end up being no contest. Paul ended his night with a double-double of his own with 28 points, 11 assists and 6 boards. What kind of big three would it be if they didn’t all get in on the double-double fun? Jordan was having a block party Sunday but he didn’t forget to invite some points and rebounds along as he ended with 18 and 12 respectively along with 4 blocks. 

This was pure domination in game one for the Clippers and this is certainly a good sign moving forward as the team controlled the game and ended up with a 115-95 win. If they continue to play this well offensively while shutting down the Blazers guard tandem, things are going to remain easy for this squad.

Game two will take place Wednesday at 7:30 PM PST on TNT. 

Thanks for reading along Clipper Nation. 1 down, 3 to go. 

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