The Portland Trail Blazers fell to the Los Angeles Clippers Saturday night 106-102 at the Staples Center.

First off, the Clippers have been a weird team to me. They have had some big names and old veterans that should make this team almost unstoppable on paper. However, they always feel underwhelming or that they should be doing more with the roster that they currently have. The Thunder (when at full strength) I would think would scare more people than the Clippers.

Now, to be blunt, the Blazers let this one get away from them. In the first half, the Blazers outscored the Clippers 62-53 and looked absolutely locked on the offensive end and the defensive end. The ball movement was crisp from the get-go and the defense was mighty impressive. Portland forced the Clippers to move the ball more, while also stalling some possessions for them. There were a couple of times in the first half where superstar power forward Blake Griffin held the ball looking for an open man until eventually settling for the mid-range jumper because the clock was getting low. Portland has definitely made strides defensively as I have said in recent posts and it was more than evident in the first half. In the first quarter, the Blazers came out hot jumping to a 17-9 lead thanks to three-pointers and, once again, Robin Lopez (seriously what?).

In the first quarter, Lopez went 4-for-4 and had 11 points. Damian Lillard was blistering as he went 3-for-3 from beyond the arc in the quarter and had 11 points as well. The game started off well for Portland in the quarter, but the Clippers bounced back. After starting a guard heavy lineup with Jamal Crawford, the Clippers switched it back and brought in Matt Barnes. That allowed the Clippers to get back into the game, while also getting a little more defense in Barnes. Portland shot 52% from the field and 67% from three. However, the Clippers shot 69% from the field, while also attempting seven more free throws. Portland should have been ahead by more, but fans have to feel good that Portland was still up by five after taking Los Angeles’ first punch.

The second quarter saw more of the same from Portland: hard-nosed defense combined with rapid ball movement. The Blazers shot 50% from the field and had balanced scoring from the starters and Chris Kaman. The defense, like I said, continued to be effective. Griffin was 0-for-7 in the quarter and provided just one point in seven minutes of play. However, J.J. Redick, an all-star whenever playing against Portland, was cooking. He had seven points in the quarter and really kept the Clippers afloat for most of the game. Again, though, a reoccurring theme, Portland shot 50% from the field yet only scored four more points than the Clippers did in the quarter. The Clippers only shot 39%. They also had six second chance points in the quarter.

As many Blazer fans have done in the past, whenever Portland shoots extremely well to start a game, a person can get anxious. Portland has been known to shoot lights out and then let the game get away from them with cold shooting or bad choices. Similar to what Dallas did on Thursday. They shot well and kept up with Portland in the first half, but then completely crumbled in the second.

There was every reason to be anxious as the Clippers kept making shots and Portland slowly started giving up ground. Well, the second half was a polar opposite of the first. The Clippers came out and outplayed Portland from the beginning. Their defense was a lot better. They defended the three-point line viciously, while also getting into passing lanes and forcing Portland to take poor and low-percentage shots with the shot clock winding down. Adaptation was the theme of this game. Portland’s offense went extremely cold in the third as they only shot 26%. The Clippers, on the other hand, rode their defense into their offense. They shot 43% from the field and 67% from three. Crawford got it going as he had 11 points in the quarter on 4-for-8 shooting, 3-for-4 from three. Redick continued his rampage by having five points on 2-for-3 shooting, 1-for-1 from three. Portland just looked a step behind and looked to be the ones trying to get back into it even when they still had the lead. The Clippers flipped the switch and figured out what Portland was doing.

The fourth quarter saw Portland try to get back into it. For as bad as the Blazers were playing in the second half, this team is still good enough to stay in the game and give themselves a chance. Whenever the Clippers threatened to run them out of the building, Portland would make a few buckets to keep it interesting. In the quarter, Portland shot 50%, 33% from three, while the Clippers continued to shoot a high percentage at 52%. Lillard came alive and was 5-for-7 in the quarter with 11 points and carried Portland through the closing minutes of the game. He hit a ridiculous three and was getting to the rim with ease as the Clippers were focusing a lot of their effort on the three-point line. After a Lillard layup, the Blazers were only down by two with 1:09 remaining. Unfortunately, the Blazers could not seal the deal. LaMarcus Aldridge fouled Chris Paul accidently and allowed him free throws putting the Clips up by four. Lillard once again made a driving lay-up that kept Portland within striking distance. However, Portland could not secure the defensive rebound as DeAndre Jordan got in the middle batted out a missed bucket by Paul to Crawford and Portland was forced to foul.

There were a lot of things to like about this game. When Portland is hitting on cylinders, this team is scary. They were flat-out outplaying the Clippers in all aspects and even made them look silly on some possessions. However, because the Clippers were shooting a high-percentage for most of the game and Portland was not adapting as well as they probably should have in the second half, it was a bad combination and allowed the Clippers to sneak in and steal a win. Portland should not have lost this game; however, these types of games do happen.

Portland out-rebounded the Clips 43-37, out-assisted them 25-17 and shot better from three. However, a couple stats are the biggest indicators of what went wrong. The Clippers shot five more times from the line and had six more steals. Furthermore, Portland committed a whopping 26 fouls compared to the Clips’ 19. The benches for both teams left something to be desired. The Clippers bench scored five points, while the Blazers’ bench scored 13, eight coming from Kaman. The support Portland needed from the bench was there at some points, but it was lacking for most of the second half.

Lillard was the leading scorer for Portland as he finished with 25 points on 9-for-14 shooting, 5-for-8 from three with eight assists and seven rebounds. Good game from Lillard and has washed any memory of that early slump of his away. Aldridge finished with 21 points on 7-for-22 shooting and provided ten rebounds. Not the best shooting night for LA, but he still got his 20 and 10.

Lopez has been a monster offensively (did I just say that?). He finished with 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting with seven rebounds, two assists and one block. Lopez had 17 in the first half, but was limited to just two in the second as the Clippers’ defense made sure that Lopez was not getting those easy looks. Kaman was effective finished with eight points on 4-for-5 and seven rebounds, but Steve Blake and C.J. McCollum both had rough games. They both combined for five points on 1-for-9 shooting and had one assist and one rebound combined.

The leading scorer for the Clips was Redick who averages about 40 points per game against Portland (kidding, but he does tend to torch the Blazers). He finished with 30 points on 11-for-13 shooting, 2-for-3 from three. Paul provided 22 points on 9-for-18 shooting, 0-for-3 from three and had 11 assists. Griffin, fighting a stomach bug, had 23 points on 8-for-24 shooting. Crawford finished with 20 points on 7-for-16 shooting, 3-for-5 from three. So, the Clippers got most of their scoring from their starting unit as four out of the five scored 20 or more points.

Shrug this game off Blazer fans. Portland let one slip away and they know it. The question is, how will they respond against Denver? Portland hosts the Denver Nuggets for the first time this season at the Moda Center on Sunday night at 6:00 p.m. PST. The Nuggets have a record of 1-4 and have been pretty weak, all things considered. However, Portland should not take them lightly and should go for the throat early. This is an important game and Portland needs to develop a winning streak of some sort to create some space and capitalize on the Thunder losing ballgames. Stay tuned!