Game 3 Round 1 2016

Robyn Dixon

Rowan Kavner  Digital Content Coordinator

LOS ANGELES – An NBA series can change drastically in seconds, the fickleness on full display the last time the Clippers played in Portland, losing both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin in a flash.

That’s also why the Clippers believe, as quickly as the series slipped into Portland’s grasp, it can flip right back to the Clippers. 

“We still believe we can win this series,” said Austin Rivers. “We did it last year versus the Spurs. We were down 3-2 in San Antonio when everybody thought we were out, and we found a way to win.”

The Clippers stole Game 4 in San Antonio last year to even the series, taking all the momentum with them back for a home Game 5, before dropping that one.

At that point, no one gave the Clippers much of a chance fending off the reigning champions. They’d then need to go to San Antonio to keep the series alive, and even if they beat the Spurs there, would need to finish off the series with a Game 7 win at home to advance.

“We were in the same situation last year, we had to go to San Antonio and win on their court in a Game 6 to force a Game 7 in front of our home fans,” said Jamal Crawford. “We’re a confident group. We feel really good about Game 6.”

Crawford’s seen enough in his 16-year career to believe the Clippers, even without their stars, are still very much in this series. The Clippers lost both their games in Portland earlier this round, but led by four points with fewer than four minutes left in Game 3 and only trailed by four points early in the fourth quarter of Game 4.

“We can win there,” Crawford said. “I mean, we didn’t do it – but the first game up there, we were up four with three and some change left. All the games, pretty much, have been tight, the games we lost. We have full confidence, we really do. We’re very confident we’ll get it done and be back here Game 7.”

Of course, without Paul and Griffin, the Clippers’ margin for error disappears, and they know that.

They can’t afford for Damian Lillard to hit six shots in the fourth quarter again and get hot late, which he has a penchant for doing. They can’t afford for J.J. Redick to go cold, as he did in the two games in Portland earlier this series as he still plays through his sore heel. They can’t afford for Jamal Crawford to go 6-for-23 again, missing shots he’d normally knock down.

The Clippers would give Crawford those looks he had in Game 5 again in a heartbeat.

“He’ll make more of those,” head coach Doc Rivers said confidently.

For two quarters in Game 5, the Clippers were completely ready for the shorthanded challenge, until fatigue caught up to them late. They’d played without Paul before and they played without Griffin before, albeit rarely at the same time and never in a situation as significant as the one in front of them.

But, they believe getting that night out of their system in their first game without their stars is all they needed.

“We’ll be better,” Doc Rivers said. “You’re always better the second time, anyway. That’s not going to be an issue.”

Trailing 3-2 in the series, they know they’ve been here before.

A Clippers team that won 24 games on the road this season only needs one more to get the vacillating momentum back on their side. As Doc Rivers said going into Game 5, the Clippers just need to be the best team for one game. Then, they’ll worry about the next.

The Clipper’s head coach is fostering the optimistic attitude enveloping a roster many have counted out before.

“We have no choice,” said Austin Rivers. “I’m not ready to go home yet. Nobody on this team is. We have high hopes for this team. Even though our two best players are out, we still want to fight and we believe we can beat this team, but we’ve got to go do it. Those are just words.”

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Crawford: “We’re Very Confident We’ll Get It Done”

LOS ANGELES – All the momentum swung to the shorthanded, amped-up Clippers.  Then, they had time to exhale.

“They were just up,” said head coach Doc Rivers. “Sometimes, you get up too much.”

The Clippers heard every criticism about the state of their shorthanded group and their slim chances without Chris Paul and Blake Griffin leading up to Game 5. And, for 24 minutes, they put everything they had on the floor, leading by as many as eight points in the second quarter and going to halftime with a five-point lead against the full-strength Trail Blazers.

“We were so hyped,” said Austin Rivers, who started for Paul and finished with 13 points. “That first half, we were so emotionally involved.”

But, with any adrenaline rush, there’s a crash.  

A halftime break to cool down also turned the shots ice cold, and all the energy the Clippers used to fuel their attack in the first half seemed to seep away.

The Clippers didn’t score a point in the third quarter until Jeff Green went to the free-throw line with 6:24 remaining in the quarter. By then, their lead had disappeared.

“They turned their energy up beginning of the third, and we were exhausted,” said Doc Rivers. “I had to call two timeouts, you could just see it. That’s not conditioning, that was emotion.”

The Clippers still had some left in the tank, led by Green and Jamal Crawford, who responded to a nine-point Trail Blazers lead by scoring every point of a 9-0 run to tie the game heading to the fourth. 

“They heard the same thing that you guys said, you know, for 48 hours,” Doc Rivers said. “Hard game. Can they win? So, I liked the emotion, but they didn’t sustain it. Like, the pace we played at in the first half was terrific, we just couldn’t sustain the pace.”

Admittedly, Austin Rivers said it became hard to even get up and down the floor late in the game. He had played 30-plus minutes just once since the start of April before playing 37 minutes Wednesday.

Green also played 37 minutes, and Crawford was forced into 44 minutes of action.

 “I was a little winded,” Crawford said, “but what can you do at this point? You have to find a way.”

The Clippers nearly did, until exhaustion got the best of them in Game 5, allowing Portland to score 37 points in the fourth quarter to break a tie and run away with a 3-2 lead. Crawford said the key going forward is calming themselves down and staying in the moment.

They have one more chance to get it right Friday in Game 6 if they want to stay alive and play Game 7 back at home, and that’s what Austin Rivers expects to happen with a second straight game playing with a new-look group.

“I think now that we know what to expect, you’ll see a much better game for a full game,” Austin Rivers said. “We win Game 6, it’s right back to our momentum…We’re still focused and ready to go.”

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Emotional Fatigue Slows Clippers Late In Game 5

This weekly series from Clippers.com features a Q&amp;A with Clippers players, coaches, alumni or those tied somehow to the Clippers’ organization. The next edition features shooting guard J.J. Redick.  

LOS ANGELES – J.J. Redick’s not one to sugarcoat.

The Clippers’ starting shooting guard typically speaks his mind, and he knows the Clippers have their backs against the walls perhaps more than ever after being dealt back-to-back harsh blows in a matter of minutes, losing both Chris Paul (hand) and Blake Griffin (quad).

“You feel bad for Chris, and you feel bad for Blake,” Redick said. “I don’t think anybody feels bad for our team, though. We’re still in the middle of a playoff series, so we still have work to do.”

Redick himself has been dealing with a sore left heel that isn’t going away anytime soon, but despite all of the injuries, he knows the Clippers still have a chance to put the Trail Blazers away by winning two of the next three games as the tied-up series goes back home to Los Angeles.

He talked Tuesday about the Clippers’ mindset, his health and constantly fighting through postseason obstacles entering Game 5.

How much has the heel affected your shot?

J.J.: “I’d like to say it wasn’t, but it’s definitely in the back of your mind. It’s just something I have to continue to work through and figure out a way to make shots.”

What was the plane ride like heading back from Portland?

J.J.: “It felt more like a plane ride after a loss than it did a plane ride after the end of the season. So, that’s a good thing. Guys are still engaged.”

Is there a collective “we have to get through this” type of mentality?

J.J.: “You don’t have a choice. You can’t feel sorry for yourself and you can’t let go of the rope right now. We have three games to win two, so we’ve got to figure out a way to do it.”

Doc Rivers said it’s his job to get everyone to believe. Can you sense that buy-in from everyone?

J.J.: “For sure. Our job collectively, players and coaches, is to figure out a way to play that we can put ourselves in a position to win. I think we’re all going to be positive, I think we’re all going to believe we can win – I know I do. But I think we all have to figure out a way, collectively, to win.”

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24 Seconds With J.J. Redick - 4/27/16

LOS ANGELES – Blake Griffin will miss the remainder of the postseason after aggravating the left quad injury that kept him out for half of the regular season.

Griffin, who missed 41 games this year with a partially torn left quad tendon, felt a tweak in the same quad while getting fouled in the third quarter Monday night by Mason Plumlee.

He went to the locker room with the sore quad before trying to return to the court, but that effort didn’t last long, as he watched the end of the game back on the bench. Griffin said he hoped the next 24 or 48 hours would have him turning a corner. That, however, won’t be the case.

An MRI on Tuesday morning revealed no further structural damage, and Griffin will be ready for the start of training camp next season, but his 2015-16 playoffs are done.

Griffin first injured his left quad Dec. 25 against the Lakers and didn’t play again until the start of April. The Clippers tried to manage his minutes in his return, since the tear was still present when he came back.

“It’s just about managing the pain and getting through this,” Griffin said before making his return April 3.

Griffin played in five of the Clippers’ final seven regular season games, getting rest along with the majority of the starters in two late road games. He knew the injury would test his patience, but the Clippers and head coach Doc Rivers were surprised with how strong Griffin felt after each game, up until Monday.

He showed more explosion as games went by during the regular season, including a 17-point, 11-rebound, seven-assist game against the Mavericks. He was a handful for Mason Plumlee to start the first-round series, throwing down dunk after dunk on his way to 19 points, 12 rebounds and six assists in Game 1.

That was Griffin’s best performance of the series, which is now tied 2-2, though he scored in double digits in all four games. After Game 4, Rivers said it didn’t look good for Chris Paul. He had a similar answer for Griffin.

“It doesn’t look great for him, either,” Rivers said.

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Quad Injury Forces Griffin Out For Postseason

LOS ANGELES – Chris Paul made his first six shots Monday night, but it’s the six weeks he’ll miss going forward that matter much more for the Clippers.

Paul underwent surgery on his right hand Tuesday morning and will be reevaluated in four to six weeks after fracturing his third metacarpal in the third quarter of Game 4.

It’s a devastating hit for a Clippers team that relied on Paul to score at least 25 points in each of his last five playoff games entering Monday night, not to mention his ability to distribute and the calming influence he provides on a nightly basis.

“Major, major blow,” said Jamal Crawford. “I just feel bad for him personally, because I know how much he puts into the game and how much he gives himself for the team.”

Paul left Moda Center in a cast and a sling after scoring 16 points and dishing out four assists with three steals in Game 4, despite playing only 25 minutes.

He averaged 23.8 points and 7.8 assists through four games of the series and also served as the primary defender on Damian Lillard.

It’s his defensive assignments he takes more pride in than anything.

Prior to Game 4, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers praised the job Paul’s done on the defensive end this year, particularly with the Clippers changing the scheme to keep DeAndre Jordan under the basket, subsequently putting more pressure on the Clippers’ guards.

That was a tough decision for Rivers because of the load his 30-year-old star point guard already has to carry.

“All of a sudden, we’re asking him to get over every screen and force a guy into the paint,” Rivers said. “That takes a physical beating to do that. When your best player is Chris, you have to give that some pause – like, ‘should we do it?’ – and at the end of the day we decided to do it.”

Unsurprisingly, Paul had no issues with it, and the Clippers finished in the top five in the league defensively this season. Paul also stayed relatively healthy, playing in 74 games while averaging 19.5 points and 10 assists.

“He’s just competitive,” Rivers said. “You would hope everyone’s that way. They’re not, obviously. Chris doesn’t like when people score.”

That’s just one of the many traits the Clippers will miss in Paul, who’s done for the remainder of the series, which is now tied up as the Clippers head back home to Los Angeles.

“My job as a coach is figuring out a way to get us up and ready for Game 5,” Rivers said. “There’s nobody probably in the league that’s going to replace Chris Paul….But as a group, everybody pitches in.”

That whole group gathered in the medical room after Game 4 to check on Paul and try to keep his spirits up. Everyone realized the significance of the injury and the enormity of the loss, but the reserves also see a chance to provide a boost the Clippers will need without their star point guard if they want to get out of the first round.

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Paul Undergoes Hand Surgery, Reevaluated In 4-6 Weeks

PORTLAND - Both teams have taken care of business at home, with the Clippers going to 2-0 early last week before the Trail Blazers earned their first win of the series in Portland.

Here are the top five plays of last week’s Games 2 and 3.

Chris Paul draws three defenders on the drive, then weaves a pass through traffic to Blake Griffin for the good look on a one-handed finish.

Luc Mbah a Moute will often get C.J. McCollum as a defensive assignment. As McCollum tries to drive by him, Mbah a Moute steals the pass, then takes it all the way himself for the dunk.

Griffin gets the pass from Chris Paul at the top of the key, and with some momentum, makes a hesitation move and splits between Mason Plumlee and Damian Lillard for the dunk.

The Trail Blazers have done well limiting the always dangerous Paul to DeAndre Jordan alley-oop – but not every time. Allen Crabbe and Chris Kaman find out how lethal it can be on this early Game 3 drive.

Griffin puts the exclamation mark on a Game 2 win, rearing back and throwing down a fourth-quarter dunk on Maurice Harkless, who tried to come over and help.

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Top Five Plays Of The Week: 04/18 - 04/24

LOS ANGELES – Chris Paul watched Game 3 again. And again. And again.

By the end of Sunday morning’s team film session, roughly 12 hours after the game ended, the Clippers’ point guard – who typically watches a game’s film before he goes to sleep the night of a game – had already watched Game 3 three times.  

It mostly reaffirmed what he already knew. But the multiple viewings are still helpful for him, specifically as he keys in on his minutes on the floor, watching what’s happening defensively, how fouls are called, where turnovers came and the shots he got.

If it seems like it might be emotional watching what happened in a loss just hours after it ends, it is.

“But it’s all in trying to get better and learning and seeing,” Paul said. “You’re always learning and studying … You sit up and talk about it, try to figure out what you could’ve done. You try to get some closure to it, then (Monday) you see if you put it into play.”

Blake Griffin also watched the game immediately after it happened, then again the next morning with the full team.

“It was a pretty awful film session,” Griffin said. “It wasn't even the last two minutes, it was throughout the entire game. You know, really from the beginning, we let them get comfortable.”

Griffin said the Clippers didn’t execute, didn’t move the ball from side to side and didn’t do anything that made them successful in taking a 2-0 lead to Portland.

The Clippers, after an out-of-rhythm and uncharacteristic Game 3 performance, didn’t see much that surprised them.

“It’s what I saw during the game,” said head coach Doc Rivers. “It wasn’t much of a change.”

Rivers said most coaches do what Paul and Griffin did, watching film again the night of the game, then getting up and watching again in the morning. He’s no exception, even after frustrating losses.

In fact, that helps him start the process of putting the game behind.

“If you don’t watch it, I don’t know how you would go to bed, because then you’re thinking about everything you thought you saw,” Rivers said. “And then when you watch it, you can’t go to sleep because now you’re either happy or pissed, so you can’t sleep. So that’s why we get up and watch it again, and the second watch is always better than the first watch.”

The re-watching, Rivers said, is more analytical. The emotions of what just happened slowly begin to fade.  

“You watch it in a saner mind,” Rivers said. “You’re watching it like you should watch it.”

For Paul, watching the film a second time the night of the game gave him a jumpstart on that process. Rivers said he’s never seen two guys who watch more film than Paul and Rajon Rondo. 

“They’re so similar in a lot of ways, in that way,” Rivers said. “You know when you come in and you have your stuff, you better have it right, because they do. It actually puts you on your toes a little bit, it alerts you. You’ve got to be right, because they know what you’re saying, they know if it’s true or not.”

That may be a trait of most point guards, but Rivers believes Paul and Rondo’s film study is unique even to the position, which requires players to take a more cerebral approach to the game.