Trail Blazers-Clippers Preview

By ALAN FERGUSON
Posted Jan 27 2013 2:39AM

The Los Angeles Clippers didn't have too much trouble during Chris Paul's initial absence with a bruised right kneecap. It's been a different story this week.

It's unknown when the All-Star point guard will return, and the Clippers will try to avoid a season-high fifth straight loss Sunday night as they finish a home-and-home set with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Los Angeles (32-13) swept a three-game road trip earlier this month despite Paul's absence, but the club hasn't won since he aggravated his injury in a loss at Golden State on Monday.

The Clippers managed to erase a 14-point deficit Saturday in Portland, but then they blew a nine-point lead in the final 2:30 of a 101-100 defeat.

"Tough pill to swallow," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "We had an opportunity to steal this one and we couldn't convert down the stretch."

Los Angeles missed its final five shots, including two from former Blazers guard Jamal Crawford in the final 17 seconds. His last attempt, a 19-foot jumper, came with 0.9 seconds left.

"I'll take that shot 10 out of 10 and I'll make it nine out of 10," Crawford said.

Crawford finished with 19 points and has averaged 19.5 during his team's losing streak. Blake Griffin had 24 points, a career high-tying 10 assists and eight rebounds despite dealing with a sore left ankle.

Portland's Nicolas Batum, meanwhile, recorded his second triple-double in three games Saturday with 20 points, a career-best 12 assists and 10 rebounds. Rookie point guard Damian Lillard also scored 20 points.

Their efforts helped the Blazers (22-21) snap a three-game skid in the series and record a second consecutive win following a six-game losing streak.

"It's a better taste when you win the game," said Batum, who had his other triple-double in a loss to Washington on Monday. "I can't promise a triple-double every week, but I try to do something and help the team to win every game."

Batum had a team-best 23 points against the Clippers on Nov. 8, but Crawford, Paul and DeAndre Jordan each topped 20 in Los Angeles' 103-90 win. Griffin was held to seven points in that game, but he was one of three Clippers players with 20 in the most recent home matchup with Portland, a 98-97 victory March 30.

Paul also had 20, including the go-ahead layup with five seconds left. His absence would figure to make it much tougher for Los Angeles to avoid losing five in a row for the first time since Feb. 22-28, 2011.

The Clippers are also in danger of their first back-to-back home defeats since Nov. 3 and 5.

They'll want to be wary of J.J. Hickson, who has totaled 57 points on 25-of-37 shooting (67.6 percent) in his last two road games against the Clippers. Blazers scoring leader and All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge, meanwhile, has just 26 points on 38.7 percent shooting (12 of 31) in the two matchups this season.

Griffin has double-doubles in eight of his nine career games against Portland.

Clippers topple Trail Blazers 96-83

By JOE RESNICK
Posted Jan 28 2013 1:37AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) Blake Griffin and Eric Bledsoe combined to help the Los Angeles Clippers end a four-game losing streak.

Griffin had 23 points and nine assists, helping the Clippers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 96-83 on Sunday night and get even for a one-point loss to the Trail Blazers a day earlier.

"It's everybody's job on this team to step up, and that's what I've tried to do," Griffin said. "Chris is a huge part of our team and he directs the game from the point guard spot. He has the ball in his hands during 85 percent of our offense. So when he goes out, our whole dynamic changes. But other guys have stepped up. Eric Bledsoe's done a great job."

Bledsoe had 10 points, five assists and five rebounds in his seventh start, while Chris Paul missed his fourth straight game and seventh in the past nine because of a bruised right kneecap.

Bledsoe played 36 minutes without committing a turnover.

"I just played more aggressive and didn't worry about it," Bledsoe said. "My last couple of games I was playing kind of passive, but tonight I did a good job of just staying aggressive. My teammates just told me to just stay in attack mode, and everybody else on the team played great. At the end of the day, turnovers are going to happen. You can't play every game without having a turnover."

Griffin powered the Clippers to a 55-50 halftime lead with 15 points, including a fast break dunk off a long pass from DeAndre Jordan just before intermission.

Griffin also had an assist on six of the team's first nine baskets, including Jordan's alley-oop dunk and 3-pointers by Caron Butler and Matt Barnes.

"Our lead assist guy is not around, so we have to run some more things through Blake at the elbow and let him make plays for us," coach Vinny Del Negro said. "He draws so much attention, but he's unselfish and he's making the good basketball plays and making other players better. That's what All-Stars do in this league."

Griffin didn't get his first rebound in this game until after his sixth assist.

"Blake sharing the basketball made the game easier for everybody," Del Negro said. "He was kind of like a `point forward' for us tonight. We had 33 assists and shot the ball well, which we haven't been doing. We were unselfish in a lot of areas."

The Clippers have the third-best record in the NBA at 33-13 and are 2 1/2 games behind San Antonio in the Western Conference.

Lamar Odom had eight points, 13 rebounds and six assists.

"We needed any kind of a win right now," Del Negro said. "We're trying to accumulate as many as we can, and then we'll count them up at the end of the year and see where we're at.

"We obviously executed a little bit better and got solid production from several guys. I liked our intensity in the second half, and we did a better job guarding the 3-pointers. But more so, our activity defensively was the difference in the game."

LaMarcus Aldridge led the Trail Blazers with 21 points and 11 rebounds. It was Portland's seventh loss in nine games.

"It's hard to beat the same team two times in a row, especially on back-to-back said," rookie Damian Lillard said. "They're a really good team. Last night I think we did a lot better job controlling their transition and not giving up as many easy plays."

Portland never led in the second half on Sunday, falling behind 74-59 after a driving layup by Bledsoe with 3:15 left in the third quarter.

Griffin didn't play after going to the bench with 10 seconds left in the third quarter and the Clippers leading 78-62. But they built the margin to as many as 19 points on a layup by reserve forward Ronny Turiaf with 6:23 remaining.

"We didn't take care of the ball and we had turnovers in the second half," Aldridge said. "I thought they had some easy breakouts that opened the game up. Griffin did a good job of finding guys and making good reads. But we didn't play as well as we did last night, and some of the guys were a little tired."

NOTES: The Blazers finished with 28 assists on their 29 field goals. ... Los Angeles outscored Portland 56-24 in the paint. ... The Clippers head out on a seven-game road trip. ... The Clippers shot 51.2 percent, and are 14-1 when shooting at least 50 percent. ... Los Angeles was leading 46-40 when Butler's fadeaway 3-pointer from in front of the Clippers' bench was disallowed because of an offensive foul called against him with 4:31 remaining in the second quarter. Butler picked up his third foul just 14 seconds later, but remained in the game until he was removed by Del Negro with 3:16 left in the half.

Notebook: Clippers 96, Trail Blazers 83

Dan Arritt, For NBA.com
Posted Mon Jan 28, 2013 12:44 AM - Updated Mon Jan 28, 2013 12:44 AM

THE FACTS: After blowing a nine-point lead with just over two minutes remaining the night before in Portland, the Clippers weren't about to allow a repeat performance less than 24 hours later. Los Angeles took control against the Trail Blazers early in the third quarter Sunday night and didn't let off the gas in the 96-83 victory at Staples Center, ending a four-game losing streak.

QUOTABLE: "We needed any win right now. We're just trying to accumulate as many wins as we can, and then count them up at the end of the year and see where we're at."

-- Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro

THE STAT: The Clippers (33-13) were dominant in the paint against Portland. They scored 56 points down low and gave up 24. The Trail Blazers (22-22) were also limited to four second-chance points, a season-low for a Clippers opponent this season.

TURNING POINT: A layup by DeAndre Jordan and a 3-pointer by Willie Green on the first two offensive possessions of the second half gave the Clippers their biggest lead, 50-40, and a 10-2 run later in the quarter stretched the advantage to 15. Portland never got closer than 12 the rest of the way.

HOT: Clippers point guard Chris Paul missed his fourth straight game and seventh in the last nine with a bruised right knee cap, but Blake Griffin once again did his part to fill some of that void. He finished with 23 points, nine assists, five rebounds and two steals, despite sitting out the fourth quarter with the game in hand. In the last five games, he's averaging 23.2 points, 6.8 assists, 9.0 rebounds and 2.2 steals.

NOT: The Trail Blazers scored 12 points in the third quarter, which matched their lowest-scoring quarter this season. The only other time they scored 12 in a quarter was during the fourth against Dallas on Nov. 5. Portland rookie point guard Damian Lillard finished with 16 points on 5-for-14 shooting. He also committed a team-high five turnovers.

GOOD MOVE: Even without Paul in the lineup, the Clippers still managed to match their season high with 33 assists on 42 field goals. Four players had at least five for L.A. Portland was even more efficient with their passing. The Trail Blazers finished with 27 assists on 28 field goals.

QUOTABLE II: "We were unselfish in a lot of areas. Moving the basketball was obviously a key, offensively, but more so I thought we were locked in better defensively, which translated to sharper offensive execution."

--Vinny Del Negro

BAD MOVE: Griffin was one assist away from his second consecutive game with double digits in that category. He spotted Lamar Odom along the baseline with a clear lane in front of him, made a clean pass and Odom rose up for what looked like a sure dunk. But the ball sailed out of his hands before he could stuff it through the rim and went out of bounds with 10 seconds left in the quarter. Griffin didn't get a chance to make another pass, as he watched the rest of the game from the bench. Odom certainly made up for it in other areas, totaling eight points, 13 rebounds and six assists.

QUOTABLE II: "He's unselfish and he's making good basketball plays and making us play better. That's what All-Stars do in this league."

--Vinny Del Negro on Griffin

NOTABLE: The Clippers play their next eight games on the road. ... Portland shot 11-for-25 from 3-point range on Saturday night, but was 3-for-15 on Sunday. ... Griffin continues to significantly improve his free-throw shooting. A career 60.2-percent shooter from the foul line, Griffin shot 5-for-6 against the Trail Blazers, improving to 49-for-69 in his last 12 games (71 percent). ... The Clippers shot 65 percent from the floor in the opening quarter and nine different players for L.A. had at least one field goal during that stretch. ... Portland forward Nicolas Batum, who posted the first two triple-doubles of his career this week, finished with eight points, six rebounds and eight assists.

UP NEXT: For the Clippers, Wednesday @ Minnesota, Friday @ Toronto, Sunday @ Boston. For the Trail Blazers, Tuesday vs. Dallas, Friday @ Utah, Saturday vs. Utah.

• Trail Blazers: Jeffries, Williams
• Clippers: Billups, Thompkins

• Trail Blazers: --
• Clippers: --

• Lead Changes: 12
• Times Tied: 8

• Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Officials: #24 Mike Callahan, #18 Matt Boland, #66 Haywoode Workman
• Attendance: 19060
• Duration: 2:10