PORTLAND, Ore. — How much better is the best backcourt in the NBA than the Blazers' backcourt? We are about to find out the answer to that question.
The Portland Trail Blazers beat the Los Angeles Clippers 106-103 in Game 6 of their Western Conference first round series, advancing the Blazers to the semifinals and a matchup with top seed Golden State.
A team that almost no one expected to make the NBA playoffs will face a team everyone expected to romp through the playoffs in the Western Conference semifinals.Portland will visit the Warriors for Game 1 at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday on ABC.
Portland's attempt to win a playoff series for only the second time since 2000 did not come easily. A decimated Los Angeles Clippers backcourt fought hard on Friday night, despite a bloody eye for Austin Rivers, a strained heel for J.J. Redick, and a hot hand that went cold for Jamal Crawford.
But the Blazers' ascendant backcourt of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum suppressed them in the fourth quarter Friday, with Lillard finding McCollum open for three-pointers on the wing twice in the final five minutes. Lillard led the Blazers with 28 points and McCollum had 20.
The game was sealed by the breakout player of the series, Portland center Mason Plumlee, who made two of his game-high 17 rebounds and three of four free throws in the final 14.7 seconds. Plumlee is the first Blazers player since their 1977 NBA championship team to record at least 10 rebounds in five consecutive playoff games. Until this week, 1977 also was the last time Portland had won four consecutive Playoff games.
The Blazers shot 40% in the first half and had to heat up in the third quarter to stay with the Clippers. Portland scored on six consecutive possessions in the third quarter — four of those being 3-pointers. Portland's 14 made threes on 32 attempts is a franchise Playoff record, and they needed them, especially in the second half.
"They have some players who can put the ball in the basket and play off the dribble," Blazers coach Terry Stotts said. "Honestly, we lost so many of these type of games early in the season, to keep our composure and make the plays, get a rebound, make some free throws, trust your teammates. It's not going to be a beautiful 48 minutes."
Rivers, a third-year player who was outstanding in the series in relief of the injured All-Star Chris Paul, made five of seven shots for 12 points in the third and got the Clippers a lead at the end of the quarter via a series of quick pullups in the lane, under the basket and out on the wing to remarkable success. It was made even more remarkable by the way his evening began.
The early stages of the game resembled the teams' last meeting here at Moda Center in a number of ways: One team didn't shoot well (the Blazers), one had an excessive number of turnovers (the Clippers, nine), and a key player got hurt.
With 6:46 to play in the first quarter, Portland's Al-Farouq Aminu inadvertently hit Rivers in the left eye with an elbow while descending and trying to grab a rebound off a shot by Rivers in the lane.
The collision caused blood to gush from above and below Rivers' eye, and he headed to the locker room with the trainers covering his face with a towel. He received stitches and returned to the court wearing a bandage with 5:03 left in the second quarter.
He played the entire third quarter and most of the fourth, but despite his excellence, a game-high 32 points from Crawford, and 7-of-12 shooting from Redick, this series went to the team with the two alpha guards who get to measure themselves against the NBA's best at some point in the coming weeks.
"In the huddle, I just told our guys that we got that done by fighting and being together," Lillard said, "pretty much just not worrying about the outside noise whether that's positive or negative.
"And then in this series coming up, we've got a chance. Everybody will say that we don't, but I just wanted to remind everybody that we've got a chance."
NBA playoffs: Best of the first round
References
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