Portland Trail Blazers Eke out Crunch-Time Win vs. LA Clippers

The Portland Trail Blazers outlasted the LA Clippers on Wednesday night on the road in an up-and-down game for both teams. When the smoke cleared in crunch time, the Blazers were victorious, 106-105.

Portland guard Anfernee Simons led the Blazers in scoring with 25 points on 10-24 shooting and six assists. Fellow guard Scoot Henderson led a young-guy revolution, playing fast and swinging momentum back Portland’s way after an anemic start. Henderson produced 14 points on 5-8 shooting (2-3 from deep), six assists, three rebounds and a steal in 24 minutes, marking another strong, controlled performance in his early-season catalog. Blazers starting center Deandre Ayton also contributed 15 points, 12 rebounds and a crucial late offensive rebound that he converted into a hard hook shot.

On the Clippers side, former Blazers guard Norman Powell led all scorers with 30. All-star guard James Harden added 19 on 6-18 shooting – we’ll call that tough shooting night the Toumani Effect.

With the formalities out of the way, let’s talk about how it all went down in the takeaways from Wednesday night’s thriller in Tinsel Town.

A wave from the young guys

The Blazers came out of the gate sluggish and cold in LA. The Clippers jumped out to an 8-0 lead early as Portland started 1-8 from the field. Fears began to swell that the Blazers might be in for a long night on the road — at least in the Blazer’s Edge Slack chat. When Henderson checked in at the 7:37 mark with Portland trailing 10-4, that’s when the momentum of the game began to shift. Henderson scored seven points in the first quarter and led a flurry of activity and production from Portland’s younger players that turned the game around.

Kris Murray added great defense, rebounding and a first quarter buzzer beating tip-in. He also went a respectable 1-2 from long range. Donovan Clingan provided impact in the field with that size. Both Toumani Camara and Jabari Walker offered their usual hustle and disruption (Rayan Rupert also got into the party late with a 7-0 run all by himself in the fourth quarter). With the young guys, the Blazers played faster, moved the ball with more pop and got more floor burns by diving for loose balls. As the starters began to find their rhythm, the early 8-0 deficit turned into a 54-43 Blazers lead late in the second half.

That trend continued into the second half. As the Clippers surged ahead to go up by as many as nine in the third quarter and again by nine early in the fourth, it was Henderson and the younger second unit that led Portland’s offense back into the game.

Crunch-Time Offense

With the game still close as it approached winning time, Portland head coach Chauncey Billups returned the keys to the older starting lineup. That meant putting the ball in Simons’ hands at the top of the key and letting him shoot or play off the screen. The plan started off great. Simons ripped off seven straight points to give Portland a 104-103 lead with 2:44 left. Then things came to a standstill. Simons missed his final three shots — a 3 and two straight-line drives — though the missed 3 was saved by an ugly but effective put-back from Ayton in a straight jacket of Clippers defenders. Then, with under 30 seconds left to play and Portland protecting a one-point lead, Simons worked from the top of the key to hit a pass to Ayton in the corner for the 3. Ayton was open, he had hit one earlier, and ( i won’t lie) it looked pretty clean from his hands but it didn’t fall. I’ll be curious to hear what Billups thought of the last few looks Portland got, but they left a lot to be desired.

Despite the erratic late-game execution, Portland redeemed itself with good defense, aided by Clippers free throws. The Blazers turned Harden on one play with a double team. On another play, Deni Avdija had a crucial chase-down block on Powell with 30 seconds left. Then Ayton intercepted a pass intended for Ivica Zubac deep in the paint on LA’s final possession. It didn’t always look pretty, but the Blazers somehow managed to pull off the win.

The little things

The Blazers fought back in this game several times and should be applauded for that. They really didn’t make life easy for themselves either. Over the course of a 48-minute basketball game, this Blazers team is plagued with an increasing number of minor fouls that make you want to pull your hair out. They are not big! They’re just the little things, and they come in a variety of packages: bizarre turnovers, slightly off-target passes that throw shooters out of rhythm, missed layups, leaving good shooters wide open in the zone defense, giving up a 7- 0 run with about a minute left in the first half. This game exists in an interesting space where I feel both the Blazers and Clippers should have won by 10.

Norman Powell, the former blazer/blazer killer

In the last section, when I talked about the Blazers leaving good shooters open, Powell was usually the guy who starred in that “open shooter” role. The former Blazer torched his old team by going 5-10 from deep en route to a 30-game stretch. He also delivered his usual “Stormin’ Norman” offense to the rack, going 11-22 from the field overall. He was the only Clipper to score over 20 points. LA eventually coughed up this game, but it wasn’t because of Powell.

Clingan vs. Kai Jones’ speed

Clingan did a number of things well in his 11 minutes of action. He provided a boost on the offensive glass (six rebounds, three offensive), had a block and a steal, finished some buckets down low and even buried a much-needed 3 in the fourth quarter. However, Clippers backup center Kai Jones gave the rookie some problems. Jones is a 6-foot-11 athletic demon who makes his NBA money flying around the floor. That’s a tough cover for a great rim protector like Clingan, especially five games into his career.

Defending without mistakes is something Clingan has done very well early for a rookie center, but Jones’ quick activity was a big reason why Clingan picked up three first-quarter fouls. At the third whistle, Jones caught Clingan flat-footed at the 3-point line and burned him for a duck-1 dunk. Clingan handled the task better in the second half, picking up just one foul in his limited minutes in the second half. Seeing how Clingan handles faster centers will be an interesting development to follow throughout his career.

Next

Box Score

The Blazers will be back at the Moda Center on Friday night to face the Oklahoma City Thunder. Tipoff is scheduled for a little after 19 PST.