The Los Angeles Clippers wanted to tie the series and go back home for game 7, but that was the last thing that Damian Lillard and the Portland Trail Blazers were going to let them do in front of the Portland faithful. LA kept the game close, and it went down to the very last second. Who knows, maybe if Jamal Crawford could have made a difficult lay-up when the Clippers were down 2 then the Clippers would have won in OT. The Blazers didn’t want that though, and they weren’t going to let that happen. They weren’t going to lose to a Clippers team without Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, and they didn’t. In a tightly contested battle that came down to the very last minute, the Trail Blazers made more plays to win the game 106-103 and with the win, they clinched the series 4-2.
Portland was carried by their star player, Damian Lillard. He played a fantastic game where he scored 28 points and grabbed 5 boards and assisted on 7 passes. He also only missed one of 7 free throws. Lillard’s backcourt counterpart, C.J. McCollum, also had a big game scoring 20 points and he was efficient, with his +/- being +8.
Tons of Clippers’ players had great games, but it wasn’t enough to win. Jamal Crawford, who played 39 minutes off of the bench, was the focal point on offense. He scored 32 points to try and propel the team to victory, but it just wasn’t enough. Austin Rivers got the start at point guard tonight, and he also played a fantastic game. Rivers scored 21 points on 8 for 19 shooting, and he also assisted on 8 passes. While these two guys had great games, if the Clippers had won, DeAndre Jordan would have been this teams player of the game. He had a phenomenal double-double where he scored 15 points and grabbed 20 rebounds including 8 on the offensive side of the ball. He was really trying to will this team to victory, but they came up just short.
The Trail Blazers will now go on to play the Golden State Warriors in the second round on Sunday at 3:30 EST in Golden State. Without Stephen Curry, the Blazers will look to win one or two away games before Curry even returns.
