Clippers lost Game 3 to Trail Blazers… Why?

After handily winning the first two games of the series, the Los Angeles Clippers drop Game 3 to the Portland Trail Blazers, 96-88.

So, there won’t be a sweep. A gentlemen’s sweep at best but no four-game sweep to pad up rest days before the inevitable series against the Golden State Warriors.

Before game 3 the Clippers looked well on their way to that sweep. Doc Rivers had come up with the perfect gameplay to keep Damian Lillard contained in the half court and Portland lacked the bigs, playmaking, and shooting (at least through games 1 and 2) to execute and debunk said plan.

Terry Stotts was a good coach so there was no reason to believe he couldn’t adjust. The personnel just didn’t lend to that theory, but they improved in an area where the results laid in their own hands, literally: shooting.

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As lackluster a saying it is, it’s the truth: the NBA is a make or miss league. Where the Clippers succeeded the previous two games and the Trail Blazers failed, the inverse occurred, with Portland making more and Los Angeles making less.

You can point toward the shot making of two guards to highlight these differences. J.J. Redick, who shot 55% from the field and 36% from three in his team’s two wins, finished 20% from the field in the game 3 loss. On the opposite end, C.J. McCollum, who shot 32% from the field and 25% from three in his team’s two losses, finished 50% from the field in the game 3 win, scoring 27 points, more than any Clippers player (by one — Paul finished at 26 points).

That shift in shooting can change the dynamics of a game, and it hasn’t even been mentioned that Blake Griffin shot 5-of-16 from the field and contributed 3 turnovers while Mason Plumlee provided the Trail Blazers 21 points and 9 assists, a stat line that’s almost unfathomable for the brother of many.

It’s the dynamic of a playoff game that often goes unnoticed because fans, writers, and analysts look for the hot topic as to why a team failed to secure a victory. Steve Clifford, Hornets coach, hinted at something similar when his team fell to the Miami Heat in game 2 of their Eastern conference series.

“Not to be disrespectful, but you guys watch these games and you just come up like something’s got to change,” said Clifford. “Where sometimes you have to do the basic things better. Which is what basketball is. It kills me. Jeff Van Gundy always used to say, ‘Writers always love to say, “They made an adjustment.”’ Usually the adjustment is some guy that went 1-for-8 6-for-8.”

It’s the perfect descriptor for game 3s happening without digging too deep and coming away with a hot take, like CP3 isn’t clutch or Griffin can’t lead a team, or something of that nature.

Clippers made three of 18 three-pointers (16.7%), their worst percentage of the season.
— Ben Bolch (@latbbolch) April 24, 2016

And make no question: Portland deserves credit for the performance. They withstood a potential Clippers comeback and made the series more interesting; that counts for something given the gap in talent between the two things. And if things continues to lean in their favor, more shooting will be on the way as Al-Farouq Aminu, Allen Crabbe, and Gerald Henderson‘s shooting numbers lean closer to their regular season form.

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If so, they become difficult to guard, resembling the team who finished top-10 in offensive rating this season, and that’s bad news for a Clippers team with two hobbled starters and a worrisome bench, the latter we saw the worst of last night after two excellent showings.

On the opposite end, the Clippers should feel somewhat comfortable, having stood the shooting outburst and only lost by 8 points — if you’re peak pessimist, you could grow worried the Clippers’ shooting slump extends past this game and into each of the following, being unable to stop whatever Portland gives a la Houston last year. Unlike last season, Los Angeles isn’t as close to Portland as they were to Houston in terms of raw talent so that spoken of gap should allow existence in case a bombard of shooting comes their way.

Next: No Paul Pierce is the right move for the Clippers

For those wondering, game 5 of this series takes place on April 27, at 7 PM on NBA TV, a surprise given the Clippers are one of the league’s biggest draws and NBA TV games are typically relegated to the ‘meh’ playoff series.