Game two at Staples Center between the Los Angeles Clippers and Portland Trail Blazers was a close game… until the Clippers pulled away, and won 102-81. This was really a game of runs. At the beginning of each quarter, the Clippers came out absolutely on fire. They opened the game up 13-4. At the start of the second quarter they opened on a 12-2 run. At the start of the third, an 8-0 run. At the start of the fourth, an 11-2 run.
Early on, the game was pretty close, but the Clippers had a distinct advantage, starting off the game with a 13-4 lead. The story of the first quarter was J.J. Redick, who scored 11 of his 17 points in the quarter, and started the game shooting 4-6 from the field and 3-4 from long range. The Clippers started the first quarter knocking down each of their first four shots, but missed 14 of their next 18. Still, they led 22-17 after the first.
Blazers point guard Damian Lillard was off all night long. He started the game missing six of his first seven shots, and finished the night with 17 points on 6/22 shooting, including 0-6 from deep. The Clippers began the quarter with a 12-2 run, opening up a 34-19 lead. However, the Blazers found momentum. Mason Plumlee turned a steal into a basket plus a foul. Plumlee also had a great assist to Lillard, and a big block on Blake Griffin. Portland was doing a nice job of forcing turnovers. The Blazers managed to pull within four points, down just 47-43.
The Clippers came out of the half on fire, beginning the third quarter on an 8-0 run. The Blazers hung with the Clippers in the third, though. Maurice Harmless knocked down a couple threes. Lillard threw down a nice lefty jam. C.J. McCollum drilled a three-pointer. At one point, Portland was within three points. At the end of the quarter, the Blazers trailed 67-61.
Once again, the Clippers started the quarter hot, going on an 11-2 run. It was the Clippers’ bench that started to put this game out of reach, and was the starters that turn it into a blowout. Austin Rivers hit a step-back three at the shot clock buzzer to go up 73-63. The bench unit maintained a 10-15 point lead. Then, the starters came back in and dominated. Griffin threw down one of his trademark slam dunks to extend the LA lead to 16. Chris Paul knocked down two three-pointers in the quarter, and was on fire the whole quarter. A Jamal Crawford three opened up a 20 point lead, 97-77. There was no coming back from that, and the Clippers wound up winning 102-81.
The Blazers were able to keep up with the Clippers on the boards this time(both teams pulled down 52 rebounds), but it didn’t help them. Portland’s offense was horrendous; the team shot 31-91(34.1%) from the field and an atrocious 5-26(19.2%) from three-point range. The Clippers played a good game defensively, blocking nine shots.
Chris Paul finished the game with 26 points, six rebounds, and five assists on 10-22 shooting. DeAndre Jordan had 18 rebounds, five assists, and three blocks.
Mason Plumlee had a stand-out performance for Portland, finishing with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and seven assists on 5-7 shooting.
