Portland, Mar. 20 (US): Paul George had 29 points and the Los Angeles Clippers edged the Portland Trail Blazers to their sixth straight loss with a 117-102 win Sunday night.
Kawhi Leonard has added 24 for the Clippers as they fight for home court advantage in the playoffs. Los Angeles was fifth in the Western Conference standings, half a game behind the Phoenix Suns. The Associated Press reports that the Clippers have won five of their last six games.
“We expect to win. We come here expecting to win,” said George. “That’s really the key.” “We expect to play well, we know what we have to do and we know what it’s like when we’re at our peak. We’re called in, we get players if we cover, if we’re not where we need to be. I think we’re held accountable.” each other “.
Jusuf Nurkic finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds for the Blazers, who were 13th in the West, out of playoff contention. Damian Lillard scored 21 points and nine assists.
Portland never took the lead in the game but fell behind 103-97 on a layup by Nurkic in the fourth quarter. Leonard’s jumper and George’s three-pointer pushed the Clippers’ lead to 108-97 and many Portland fans began heading for the exits.
“We still have to get better,” Leonard said. “There are a lot of mistakes we make sometimes. So we have to clean that up a bit and see if we can continue to make leaps and bounds.”
Assistant coach Dan Craig was the acting head coach for the Clippers because Tyronn Lue had a non-COVID illness and did not travel with the team. It was Craig’s third standing as coach, and his first.
Los Angeles was coming off a 113-108 loss at home to Orlando the night before, snapping a four-game winning streak.
“It feels good,” Craig said. “We needed a win and I thought it was just a good contribution for the team to come here for the second night of a back-to-back game.”
The Clippers led by as many as 15 points in the first half but the Blazers closed the lead to 44-42 on a Drew Eubanks basket before Trendon Watford tied the game with a header. Portland was unable to pull away and the Clippers led 59-55 at halftime.
A Paul George dunk put Los Angeles ahead 76-66 midway through the third quarter but the Blazers stalled, drawing within 79-74 on another Eubanks basket.
“I thought the third quarter hurt us a little bit but it was still choppy the whole time, but it just couldn’t pick up the momentum,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “I thought we had a lot of extensions where we had a good look, just drop it.”
INS tip
Clippers: Leonard started after missing the Clippers’ loss to Orlando on Saturday due to injury management. … The Clippers won three straight against the Blazers, including a 118-112 victory on November 29. The two teams play again, on April 8 in Los Angeles.
Trail Blazers: Nasir Little is back after missing Portland’s last game, a 126-112 loss to the Boston Celtics on Friday, due to a non-coronavirus illness. … Lillard scored 20 or more points in 31 consecutive games, an ongoing career record and the longest active streak in the NBA.
Listen to the child
Craig said his 7-year-old son Brody is a “hoops junkie” who steals team reports from his father’s briefcase to study them. So when asked before the game if Brody had any advice for his dad ahead of Sunday night’s meeting with the Blazers, Craig laughed: “He’s worried about Lillard.”
It was a valid concern, given that Lillard entered the game averaging 32.4 points, third in the league behind Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid (33.5) and Dallas’ Luka Doncic (33).
the next
Clippers: Hosted the first of two games against Oklahoma City on Tuesday night.
Trail Blazers: Visit the Utah Jazz on Wednesday night.
Rial