The game, the series, and Portland’s playoff hopes all changed in an instant during the third quarter of Monday night’s game. With Clippers’ guard Chris Paul angrily leaving the court with a broken hand, the first-round series just got plenty interesting.
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LETDOWN
Chris Paul fractured a bone in his right hand midway through the third quarter of Monday’s game. As he kicked at the court in frustration on his way to the locker room, the tone of the Clippers-Blazers series shifted dramatically and the entire Western Conference playoff picture changed. The Blazers held on to win the game, evening the series at 2-2 heading into Wednesday’s Game 5 in Los Angeles.
The Clippers still have weapons. Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Jamal Crawford and JJ Redick are good enough to win games. The Clips survived during the regular season when Griffin was lost for an extended period of time with quad and hand injuries and a suspension. But Paul is the engine that runs the entire Clippers machine, and missing their most important piece late in Game 4, the Clippers showed their vulnerability. Portland still has to win in L.A. to win the series, but what seemed like a daunting task heading into Game 4 suddenly seems possible.
INJURIES
Paul was diagnosed with a fractured third metacarpal in his right hand. In other words, he broke his hand. He left the arena with his arm in a sling and his hand in a cast. The full extent of the injury wasn’t immediately known, but reports say Paul will miss the remainder of the playoffs. Also, Griffin has a left quad injury that kept him out of the fourth quarter. Coach Doc Rivers said that Griffin is “50/50” to play in Game 5.
KEY MATCHUP
Clippers’ reserves saw plenty of playing time down the stretch. The strategy wasn’t designed to help the bench rather it was to rest the starting group in preparation for the playoffs. But the ploy was two-fold, according to Rivers. Because, as he said, there will come a time during the postseason when the bench needs to step up. I’m rather certain Rivers wasn’t alluding to his predicament now that Paul is likely done for the playoffs and Griffin is iffy to play on Wednesday.
The spotlight will shine brightly on the likes of Austin Rivers and Jamal Crawford and Pablo Prigioni to fill the giant void left by Paul. They are more than capable and with a few days to digest what happened in Portland, look for them to run the team expertly.
QUICK PICK
As devastating as the loss of Paul is, the Clippers are quite familiar with the situation. Paul has missed time before, including in last year’s playoffs, and the team played more than half the regular season without Griffin. The bench players saw plenty of action down the stretch and pulled off a late season win in Utah against a desperate Jazz team when Paul, Griffin, Jordan and Redick were left home. They also nearly upset Oklahoma City on the road under the same circumstances. So don’t count the Clippers out just yet.
And don’t expect Portland’s Al-Farouq Aminu to go off for 30 points again. His total nearly matched the combined output of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, which is a rarity. Lillard and McCollum have been average in the NBA series and Portland can’t win without them playing better.
NBA Odds: Los Angeles 104, Portland 97
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