Saturday night, the Portland Trail Blazers defeated the Los Angeles Clippers 96-88 in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series. At the very least, the Blazers saved some face, while also allowing themselves a real chance to make this a series with a Game 4 victory tonight.
All that’s really known right now is that the series will head back to Los Angeles after tonight. Will Portland be heading back to Staples Center having held serve at home, or will they be marching to a likely execution down 3-1?
As a side note, the Blazers have likely gained some new fans in the Golden State Warriors, who are dealing with injury issues to their best player, Stephen Curry. The Warriors want this series to go on as long as possible; if LA wins tonight, both this series and the Warriors’ series with Houston could end on Wednesday.
We can find some clues about how tonight’s Game 4 will go for both teams by sifting through the detritus of Game 3. Five things to point out about Saturday night’s game:
- Dual Dominance: When two guys score 59 of their team’s 96 points while both shooting 50% from the field and a combined 12-13 from the free-throw line, that’s an apt description.
Damian Lillard and this year’s Most Improved Player CJ McCollum did what pundits, analysts, and goobers like me said they had to do: take over the game. The Clippers relaxed the trapping defense that was so effective in the first two games, and Lillard and McCollum took full advantage of any open looks they received. When Los Angeles did bring back the trap, Lillard was able to get the ball to Mason Plumlee; we’ll get to him later, for he had a Podium Game.
There were still choppy moments, to be sure. Lillard had five turnovers, and McCollum still looked unsure when he was the lead ball handler, as the Clips tried the trap on him. CJ was able to create offense against Austin Rivers, but it has been tough sledding against Luc Mbah a Moute so far for him. Being able to finally get to his sweet spots on the floor (baseline midrange, wing three-point range) helped a great deal; from those spots, CJ can make any kind of defense irrelevant.
As for Dame, those turnovers need to be cleaned up; the Clippers almost stole this game thanks to renewed pressure on Lillard late in the game, and Lillard’s resulting turnovers. Whatever else may happen, Los Angeles coach Doc Rivers doesn’t want Lillard beating his team, and the constant late-game trapping and ball denial showed Rivers’ paranoia about stopping Lillard at all costs.
Saturday night, that “all costs” mantra included eating the loss anyway because CJ McCollum is kinda good, too.
- Blake Griffin and The Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Game: In 34 minutes, Griffin shot 5-16, scored a pitiful 12 points, had five assists and four turnovers, and was repeatedly beaten to the rim by Mo Harkless’ backdoor cuts. He did have seven rebounds, but when you realize that two guys he’s been dominating physically (Harkless and Al-Farouq Aminu) both had seven boards apiece, and that Plumlee had 21 (!!!) rebounds by himself, that rebound total looks measly for Griffin.
Griffin routinely short-armed wide-open 15-footers the Blazers gave him because they’re deathly afraid of Chris Paul. He lacked explosion and effort. He lazed around on defense, which he couldn’t afford to do because the Blazers were actually able to break the trap at times in Game 3.
As a result, Plumlee was able to fully take advantage of the 4-on-3 situations by making Griffin his mark, kind of like a read-option quarterback reading what the defensive lineman is going to do, then acting accordingly. When Griffin lurched to cut off Plum’s path to the rim, Plum just dished it off to Harkless for an easy dunk.
The Blazers can’t count on Griffin skunking it up like that again, but if whispers that his quad is still bothering him are true, we might not see the version of Griffin that carved up the Blazers earlier, either. An ineffective or limited Griffin can only increase Portland’s chances of winning Game 4, and the series in general; the power forward matchup is one Los Angeles would really like to take advantage of because of the mismatch Griffin creates.
- Mason Plumlee Played The Game of His Life, And it Was Glorious: Plumlee said after the game that his stat line looked very awkward, and while I agree that seeing a line of six points, 21 rebounds, and nine assists is something you don’t really see much of, it was enough to help the Blazers get back into the series, and earn Plumlee both the walk-off interview and a spot on the post-game podium.
When a role player has a great game, or distinguishes themselves in a way that brings them what Maurice Lucas called “pub,” we call that a Podium Game. Podium spots are usually reserved for stars and coaches, so when an ancillary player like Plumlee gets to sit there, it’s a big deal for those kinds of players.
It was the first true breakout performance by any Blazer so far, excepting Lillard and McCollum’s scoring. It is very unreasonable to expect Plumlee to equal this kind of game again, but the basic principle of his passing has proved to be a sound strategy; perhaps the Clippers will be less likely to trap Lillard and McCollum now, which can only be a good thing.
The rebounding was totally unexpected, and had as much to do with DeAndre Jordan chasing Lillard around 30 feet from the rim and Griffin being a big sack of suck than anything special Plumlee did.
Let’s hope his Podium Game gives Plumlee the confidence and validation he needs to continue making an impact in this series. Portland still needs him very much.
- What About The Other Guys?: Aminu is still struggling, and you can tell it’s gotten into his head; ESPN’s Doris Burke, doing color commentary for Game 3, made the excellent observation that Aminu was hesitating when he was open. Directing my attention onto Aminu for much of the second quarter, I saw right away that Burke was correct. Chief was playing tentatively.
When he was forced to put up a shot right away, due to the shot clock, Aminu made them, so he still has a shooting stroke (Hat tip again to Burke for that observation). It’s his head that’s getting in his way now, and for a guy that’s playing heavy minutes in a shortened rotation, that’s a bad sign. The Clippers got back into the game when the Blazers went to the starting lineup, and Aminu’s presence was a reason why.
If Portland coach Terry Stotts is thinking about shortening Chief’s minutes, there aren’t many viable alternatives available, though. Allen Crabbe, other than his continued sterling defense on Jamal Crawford (Jamal had a great game, but that’s not because of Crabbe), is still practically invisible on offense. He scored a grand total of 0 points in Game 3. Goose eggs are NOT what we need right now, AC. Gerald Henderson did next to nothing, as well.
As for the bigger men that Stotts could give some of Aminu’s minutes to, Ed Davis and Chris Kaman played well enough to help. In almost nine minutes, Kaman made a couple jumpers, but after he got roasted on defense in the first half, he didn’t get on the court in the second half. Davis had six points and five rebounds in 17 minutes. He provided the necessary fouls to put Jordan on the free-throw line; Jordan bricked his freebies, and Portland took advantage.
Mo Harkless played a great two-man game with Plumlee, but his overall game was a mixed bag. He was the only Blazer other than Lillard and McCollum to reach double figures in scoring with 10 points (shooting 5-9), and he did chip in the aforementioned seven rebounds (anytime Maurice Harkless can equal Blake Griffin in rebounding, it’s a good day for the Blazers), but Harkless also shot 0-3 from three and had five turnovers. His one trip to the free-throw line was painful to watch; his shot looks almost as bad as Jordan’s or Davis’ right now.
The Blazers’ ancillary players generally played better at home, as role players (and young players; most of these guys are still quite young) are prone to do. They’ll likely do so again tonight, whatever the result. For the Blazers to have a chance in Game 5, and later if it comes to that, their solid-to-helpful play at home must travel.
- The Burdens of Stardom: I’ll close with this little tidbit here. McCollum played 41 minutes and 50 seconds out of a possible 48 minutes on Saturday, and he’s averaging 39.1 minutes a game in the playoffs. That’s tied for fourth in the league with James Harden, who’s pretty much all that’s keeping the Rockets going at this point (with illegal shoves and all), and mere seconds behind Toronto All-Star Kyle Lowry.
Lillard is tenth in the NBA at 37, but he’s used to it; we are talking about a man that led the NBA in total minutes played as a rookie, and played in about 300 straight games to start his career. McCollum, however, is not used to this kind of burden, and he’s playing more than Lillard is right now.
He’s also used as the fulcrum of the offense whenever Lillard gets a break, which further increases the work he has to do.
Stotts really has no choice but to put McCollum to use like this, let’s be clear. No one else on the team can create offense like CJ can, except maybe Lillard, and Chris Paul is not letting Lillard breathe one bit on offense. Going without both CJ and Dame on the court would spell instant death for the Blazer offense. Still, McCollum is playing so, so many minutes, and they’re all high-leverage minutes.
If McCollum tires out into uselessness, or gets hurt while playing all these minutes, Portland is toast. As the series with the Clippers goes on, this will have to be carefully watched, and worried about.
Game 4 is tonight at 7:30 PM, on TNT.
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