![]() Things got rolling in the second with two straight buckets from Simons - a pull-up 15 footer in the midrange after stopping on a dime on George, and another bucket in close shortly after. Shaedon Sharpe hit a tough fall-away three pointer from the right corner to give the Blazers some life after a brief dry spell and followed it up with another three from the same spot after waiting for his defender to fly by on the contest.ĭespite the scoring, after one, the Blazers trailed 36-30. Gordon had seven first-quarter points, blessed with a soft touch inside and a smooth stroke from 28-feet out, while Plumlee created second-chance opportunities with bat-outs. In the midst of this run, Eric Gordon and Mason Plumlee excelled. Once Nurkic cooled off, the Blazers found no offense, leading to a 12-0 Clippers run. Westbrook penetrated into the first line of the Blazers’ defense, collapsed the zone and then kicked out to his teammates for open threes. Kawhi Leonard got going with some fancy moves inside of the free throw line and Westbrook did his job to perfection. Paul George was not shy shooting the rock, as he hoisted four attempts in the first 3:41 before picking up two quick fouls. Zubac knew how to create space off the ball for deuces inside. ![]() ![]() Los Angeles took time picking apart Portland’s zone early. He muscled his way inside for contested layups. He spotted up from the right corner for three. He received dump-offs from Lillard in the pick-and-roll. He had 13 of the Blazers’ first 15 points. When the second unit came in, Terance Mann stepped up on the Blazers’ all-time leading scorer. George and Russell Westbrook took turns covering Lillard while Leonard took the assignment on Simons. The Blazers returned to a zone, implementing a 2-3 coverage on defense while the Clippers played man. Here’s how the action went down tonight: First Quarter Though the head-to-head battle had no areas of utter dominance, outside of a 49-40 rebounding advantage for L.A., the Blazers dropped another pivotal game and will need to be perfect as the season winds down for any shot at the postseason. The Blazers never led in the game, and at one point were down by as much as 16 points. Kawhi Leonard was the superman to his batman with 24 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor and a +23 on the night. Paul George had 29 points and four steals, shooting 10-12 from the free throw line. The Clippers looked like a team rounding into championship form, despite the pesky Blazers failing to go away as the game progressed. However, Damian Lillard and Anfernee Simons combined for 10-32 from the field and could not back up their big man. Jusuf Nurkic had one of his best individual games of the season, scoring 13 of his 23 points in the first quarter to go along with 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks. They took 12 fewer shots than Los Angeles and made six fewer field goals, stressing just how much their lack of connectivity from beyond the arc cost them the win. Portland shot 6-29 from three-point range, going 20.9 percent for the game. While six Blazers scored in double figures, it could not mask an abysmal shooting night from downtown. ![]() 6 seeded Dallas Mavericks in the playoffs race. Meanwhile, the Clippers advanced to 38-34, extending their lead over the No. The Trail Blazers have now lost six-straight games, falling to 31-40 and getting no closer to squeezing into the final spot of the Western Conference play-in tournament. The Los Angeles Clippers defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 117-102 at the Moda Center on Sunday evening.
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