Clippers Get Necessary Win Over Portland Trail Blazers At The Buzzer

With the playoffs in sight, the Clippers got a much-needed win over Portland.

The win couldn’t have come at a better time for Los Angeles, who continues to try and find their identity at a point where they could really use it.

Playing without Blake Griffin for just about three months now, the tempo on both ends of the floor has been inconsistent, if we’re honest, for the Clippers.

Chris Paul and JJ Redick continue to dish the majority of points for the team, particularly with the game on the line, as was the case last night.

Redick got the chance to put the nail in the coffin against the Trail Blazers and he made sure to take full advantage of the opportunity, making the already rowdy crowd at Staples Center come to their feet with a roar.

The question remains though, will their joint efforts be enough?

Los Angeles was slow to start the first and third quarters, scoring less than 20 points collectively in both frames. This is one of the reasons that they have found themselves in a lot of do-or-die contests with Western Conference opponents.

And while this strategy might work out nicely towards the latter part of this season, the same approach may not pay dividends come playoff time.

Why?

Because they’ll have to find a way to throw Blake Griffin into the conversation at a moment’s notice.

In the meantime, playing well against a dangerous team like the Trail Blazers doesn’t hurt.

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What was nice from the game against Portland was a sense of balance between the starters and the bench in terms of scoring.

Between the five starters were 50 of the 96 team points scored throughout the game, with Chris Paul leading the way with 25 points and Jamal Crawford matching that off the bench.

DeAndre Jordan continues to be a threat down low, especially in the rebounding area of the game.

Against Portland, Jordan was able to nab 13 rebounds, while also dropping 12 points.

Negatively speaking, Paul Pierce has continued his streak of being a dud, especially in the starting role.

Pierce had another scoreless night, with just four rebounds being what let the team know he was in the building.

Accordingly, he only got 15 minutes of playing time.

Jeff Green was quiet himself, scoring just four points, grabbing four boards, and throwing out four assists off the bench.

For the Trail Blazers, it was another heart-breaking loss, but one that could add to their fire in the post-season.

Damian Lillard has done a lot with this team, and even more so when you realize the damage done to the roster when all but Lillard left for elsewhere last off-season.

It’s not a team many, if any, had making a run into the playoffs this season — but they’re about to do it, and they have no problem being the dark horse.

From what it looks like in the standings, these two teams won’t meet in the first round unless the Memphis Grizzlies fall apart and the Trail Blazers ride this loss into a momentum swing for the fifth seed.

That being the case, should Portland knock off Oklahoma City in the first round and one of the Western Conference juggernauts after that, this could be a sleeper match up in the Western Conference Finals.

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But before we get ahead of ourselves, it’s important for Los Angeles to finish the season strong — otherwise, they won’t have much of anything to look forward to.