The Portland Trail Blazers were widely expected to be one of the Western Conference's bottom feeders this season. Instead, on Friday, they beat the Los Angeles Clippers in Game 6 to advance to the second round in the NBA playoffs.
Clippers vs. Blazers, 2016 NBA playoff results: Portland advances after 106-103 win vs. depleted Los Angeles
Los Angeles is out after their two huge injury losses and Portland is the beneficiary to the huge upset.
Troy Wayrynen-USA TODAY Sports
The Blazers' 106-103 win against Los Angeles was impacted by major external factors, namely Blake Griffin's season-ending injury and a hand injury for Chris Paul that has him out indefinitely. The only reward they'll earn is a trip to face the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Semifinals, but for a team who wasn't expected to be in the playoffs at all, that's a hell of an accomplishment.
C.J. McCollum hit the huge triple with 2:16 left in the fourth quarter after Damian Lillard broke down the defense for a pinpoint assist, and enormous Mason Plumlee free throws gave Portland their final lead with seconds left in the fourth. The Portland backcourt, second-best in the league, was every bit as dangerous as their reputation: they combined for 48 points on 16-of-37 shooting and 11 assists in Friday's closeout game.
Austin Rivers very nearly pushed Los Angeles all the way to a win, despite leaving in the first quarter after an inadvertent elbow call and needing 11 stitches before returning to the game. His bloody face didn't seem like he'd be able to keep going, but instead, Rivers went for 21 points on 8-of-19 shooting, six rebounds and eight assists.
The Trail Blazers and the Clippers played the first half very close, with Portland leading by two points at the break. All of that was only to set the stage for an incredible third, where the Blazers found their shot while Rivers answered back at nearly every turn to keep Los Angeles in it. At one point early on, the Blazers made five straight three-pointers, only to see the Clippers stick around, down their two best players and just trying to make a messy, depleted roster work.
Portland’s second round series against the Warriors will likely start on Monday.
1. Look how far Portland has come
One more time, with emphasis: how did this happen? We were all so, so wrong about the Blazers this year -- partly because the Western Conference ended up being much worse than anticipated, allowing teams to sneak in towards the bottom, but partly because Portland came together way before anyone expected to create a potent, sneaky shooting team that could light up the scoreboard in an instant.
Now the youngsters in Portland -- nearly the entire team, really -- get to earn playoff experience in the second round against the Golden State Warriors. That’s huge for the Blazers and the further development they would like to see as they advance into next season.
2. Austin Rivers nearly gutted out a win
When Rivers was struck by an inadvertent elbow from Al-Farouq Aminu that left him bloodied like an MMA fighter, it didn’t seem like there was any chance that he’d return to the game.
Oh my god pic.twitter.com/579NvSTtDb
— Pinwheel Empire (@pinwheelempire) April 30, 2016
Eleven (!!) stitches later and Rivers was back. Without their two star playmakers, Rivers ran the show for huge stretches of the second half and was fantastic, consistently breaking down the Blazers’ perimeter defense and attacking the rim without fear. That’s right -- a guy who could basically only see out of one eye is the guy who kept Los Angeles afloat without Paul and Griffin. It wasn’t enough, but what a night. (Jamal Crawford was also sensational, but he did it with two fully functioning eyes.)
3. Portland’s unpredictable three-point shooting
The Blazers could have pulled away from the hampered Clippers sooner if not for poor three-point shooting in the first half. The shots ended up falling in the third quarter, where the Trail Blazers were finally able to gain a little bit of breathing room, but the cold spell in the opening minutes reminded Portland of a problem they have that will be hard to overcome in a seven-game series -- especially with Golden State next, who is the ultimate team as almost never running into cold spells.
* * *
See More:
