Frontcourt talent
Possibly the biggest weakness of the Blazers is their frontcourt. Terry Stotts has done a great job utilizing a sound rotation to form a well-balanced effort after losing the starting duo of LaMarcus Aldridge and Robin Lopez last summer, helping to lead his team to far more wins than expected.
With Mason Plumlee, Noah Vonleh, Meyers Leonard (prior to his season-ending should injury in March) and top Sixth Man of the Year candidate Ed Davis, the Blazers have a solid group of talented, young players to work with. None of them are top-tier players at their position, but they each serve a role.
However, against an All-NBA talent like DeAndre Jordan and a superstar like Blake Griffin (albeit off-form), are they going to be enough?
It’s possibly the most important matchup to watch in this series, given the Clippers’ elite talent and the return of Griffin. Can he continue his improving form and come anywhere close to the absolute force he was in the playoffs last year?
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We’ll have to wait and see, but he is gradually improving and from some of the recent post play he’s displayed, he’ll be awfully tough to handle one-on-one for any of the Blazers’ big men. Meanwhile, when it’s the Clippers’ turn to defend, a switched-on DeAndre Jordan is going to give everyone Portland have to throw at him an incredibly tough time when they try to attack the paint.
The likes of Plumlee, Vonleh and Davis can hustle well for relatively easy baskets inside. It’s something they’ve done throughout the season, but that won’t come so easily against Jordan and they aren’t great post players. And while they play impressive team defense, collectively holding opponents to 56 percent shooting within five feet as a team (4th in the league, per NBA.com), they may not fare so well in isolation plays against Griffin.
There’s no doubt the Blazers have a sound frontcourt, with more big men to bring off the bench than L.A. The Clippers just have the fortune of two elite, high-flying players that can abuse certain mismatches, especially when the Blazers go small.
All this nicely leads us onto the next key advantage the Clippers have.
Next: A strong interior game