Before the Portland Trail Blazers hosted the Los Angeles Clippers in game three of the 2016 NBA Playoffs first round matchup, they had to hand out some hardware. C.J. McCollum received his ‘most improved player’ award from the NBA and he looked to live up to that honor and continue his breakout season. Alongside his backcourt mate Damian Lillard, the duo would lead the Trail Blazers to a win over the Clippers, 96-88.
Lillard played 37 minutes, scored 32 points on 10-20 shooting including 3-8 from three-point range and McCollum scored 27 points on 11-22 shooting in 42 minutes of action. A major contributor didn’t score much but Mason Plumlee played a big role in the Trail Blazers win scoring six points but grabbing 21 rebounds and handing out nine assists for the Trail Blazers. Plumlee is the first player to put up such numbers since Kevin Garnett in 2004.
For the Clippers, their star trio was led by Chris Paul who scored 26 points with nine assists in 38 minutes. The struggle came from DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin who only combined to score 23 points with DeAndre grabbing 16 rebounds. Jamal Crawford scored 26 points with nine assists coming off the bench as the recipient of the 2016 NBA Sixth Man of the Year award.
