Clippers’ expected flaws show in Game 5 loss to Trail Blazers

The Los Angeles Clippers fought hard, but ultimately lost Game 5 108-98 against the Portland Trail Blazers due to the obvious reasons: no reliable offensive structure without Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.

The nuances of a team losing their two best players hardly needs to be over analyzed when predicting how the team will perform. Any group that loses its two best players is going to struggle, whether that’s the Golden State Warriors, Oklahoma City Thunder or any other elite team. For the Los Angeles Clippers, they were rid of their two superstars in Chris Paul and Blake Griffin in a single half of Game 4 against the Portland Trial Blazers. They went from favorites to sneak into the Western Conference Finals to depleted first round underdogs within 15 minutes.

That dramatic and heartbreaking change of pace for L.A. revealed itself as expected in Game 5, with the Clippers fighting in the first half before the absence of Paul and Griffin took its toll. Eventually, as the Blazers heated up in the second half behind their two healthy stars, Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, they scored 37 points in the fourth quarter to secure a 108-98 win.

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Before that, though, the Clippers looked like they had a chance. After the first half, they were even up 50-45. Sure, there were some messy possessions, but that’s what happens when you go from Chris Paul running the offense and throw Austin Rivers in his place.

Nevertheless, Rivers was aggressive. Along with some hopeful threes early in the shot clock that didn’t always end well, he stayed aggressive, which is exactly what the team needed. To compliment his solid defensive efforts early on, he took some strong drives to the rim, throwing down two dunks with emphasis to amp up the crowd and his teammates.

Playoff Austin Rivers had appeared, even if it wasn’t for too long.

“We were so hyped. That first half, we were so emotionally involved,” Rivers said to Rowan Kavner of Clippers.com.

Most importantly, the Clippers were using that emotion as their reason to fight. They played with energy, played solid defense with DeAndre Jordan smothering the paint and guards shifting well outside, holding the Blazers to 32 percent shooting in the first quarter and 40 in the second.

The decision to start Paul Pierce was an unwise one, though. That being said, anyone who follows the Clippers knows how adamantly loyal Doc Rivers is to “his guys”. It didn’t take long for Pierce to show off his slow defense, poor three-point shooting, and backdown smaller guards in the post, only to follow up with a wide air-ball.

Thankfully, a more reliable version of Jeff Green emerged to cut Pierce down to only nine minutes playing time. Green, like Rivers, provided some powerful plays himself, adding a few dunks en route to a 17-point (on 6-of-10 shooting), six-rebound, three-steal night.

With such explosive plays, he gave the worried fans in Staples Center a reason to get on their feet.

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It was into the second half when the heart and pace stopped carrying the Clippers forward. Eventually, with the loss of Paul and Griffin weighing down on their hopes ton win, the team’s offensive struggles couldn’t be counteracted by defense. Even with the effort, there were lapses as the game wound down, especially into the fourth quarter. Players were slower on rotations and the Blazers’ ball movement created more open shots outside, with 27 points from McCollum leading the way.

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During a hopeless drought at the start of the third quarter as the Clippers went without a point for six minutes, it was clear the game was getting away from them. They kept fighting, but with no Paul or Griffin to anchor the offense and create better possessions than Jamal Crawford isolations (who played 44 minutes and shot a mere 6-of-23) or the occasional Cole Aldrich pick-and-roll, they simply didn’t have enough.

And as the Clippers cooled down further, the Blazers’ backcourt heated up to take the fourth quarter 37-27.

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

All the focus in the world can’t necessarily come over the loss of two superstars, though. Heading to Portland, where the Clippers haven’t won yet this series, makes it that much harder.

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The Clippers will fight again next time. They don’t want to end their season on two catastrophic injuries and two straight losses. Yet, no matter what they can pull together with limited options, the Blazers have all the momentum to end the series in Game 6 as they return home.