Takeaways from the LA Clippers’ preseason loss to the Trail Blazers

BG for three?

Blake Griffin continued his hot shooting from three in the Clippers’ third preseason game, converting on three of his six three-point attempts against the Trail Blazers. Griffin has shot 6-13 (46.2 percent) from beyond the arc in the Clippers’ three preseason games, showing that the power forward is now capable of consistently knocking down perimeter shots at a reliable rate (even though it is a small sample size and is preseason).

Earlier in the preseason, Doc Rivers spoke with media in Hawaii and talked about encouraging Griffin to start taking more threes in game now that his shot has evolved: “When you start going out and taking threes and making threes, you still don’t have the gunner’s mentality yet,” Rivers said, “Blake is such a perfectionist that when he misses one, there’s an effect. He’ll break through that at some point but for now, we just have to get him to shoot it when he’s open and it’ll become second nature.”

After draining three threes against the Trail Blazers Griffin talked about his improved three-point shot with the media postgame: “I’m comfortable (in regards to his three-point shot). It’s not a shot that I want to fall in love with but the spacing on the floor has to be right,” Griffin said, “When everyone is capable of hitting shots behind the line, that spacing just gets better and better.”

Griffin had shown glimpses of a reliable three-point shot last season, shooting 35.1 percent (27-77) from behind the arc after the All-Star Break.