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Clippers-Trail Blazers Game 1: Five key things we learned

By Trisity Miller

Apr 17, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer (left, center) cheers during the first half in game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 17, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer (left, center) cheers during the first half in game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 17, 2016; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Allen Crabbe (23) drives to the basket against Los Angeles Clippers forward Jeff Green (8) during the first half in game one of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Staples Center. Mandatory Credit: Richard Mackson-USA TODAY Sports /

2 – The bench… didn’t suck

Plot twist: the Clippers, for the first time since A Tribe Called Bench (miss you LO!), get a bench that helps — will this last, past this game let alone that series? Let’s discuss when the time comes.

A one-game sample size isn’t enough to dive knee deep into the idea (if you believe it is, then you believe Austin Rivers will outplay C.J. McCollum for the rest of the first round) that the Clippers bench can be good over the course of an entire series. Dating back to the regular season gives that sample more leg room but after three years of incompetence, you understand why one would be hesitant to believe anything’ll stick.

But that’s the future. Tonight, the bench came to play, led by the continuously-impressive Cole Aldrich. He’s no DeAndre Jordan but he gave the bench a similar presence and from there, the rest of the group fell in line with their scoring

Things still aren’t perfect: Paul Pierce still shouldn’t be a rotation player, how Jeff Green is used on offense is anticlimactic and discouraging, and there needs to be more staggering of the stars . But they won Game 1 and didn’t suck and Portland gave no reason to think that maybe it could happen again, and again, and again — and maybe again, and again, and again, but those dates are TBA right now.

I’ll end it off on this note: Austin Rivers outplayed CJ McCollum.

Next: J.J. Redick looks healthy

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