Clippers take commanding 2-0 lead over Blazers behind surprisingly dominant bench
LOS ANGELES — Before Game 2, Clippers coach Doc Rivers was asked about the changes he felt the Portland Trail Blazers were going to make after a blowout loss in Game 1.
Instead of answering the question with Xs and Os, Doc Rivers downplayed the significance of game-to-game changes, claiming the chess match of the playoffs is slightly overblown.
"I think you have a personality as a team," Doc Rivers said. "Every night, it doesn't matter if it is a playoff game or the regular season, you don't do something that your team does well, well. What you usually do is try to figure out why and try that first.
"It is tough to change your team in between games. I am sure that they didn't do things that they wanted to do and they are trying to fix that. We felt like we didn't do a lot of things well in Game 1 and we are trying to change that."
While some may disagree with Doc Rivers' answer, the outcome of Game 2 — a 102-81 Clippers victory to take a commanding 2-0 series lead — essentially confirmed his theory, though not necessarily in the way he meant it.
The Blazers made tweaks — running less high pick-and-roll, getting C.J. McCollum involved early, defending Blake Griffin as if he were fully healthy, refraining from intentionally fouling DeAndre Jordan as much — and actually played better. Besides a stretch in the second quarter, this was a single-digit game until the final frame.
But it didn't matter. In the end, they scored fewer points, and lost by a greater margin. The chess match is irrelevant if one team is simply better than the other.
In Game 1, the dominance of the Clippers' starters stood out, as it often has this season. In Game 2, though, it was their scrappy all-bench lineup, which gave the team a surprising boost whenever the Blazers narrowed the deficit.
"They just changed the game for us," Doc Rivers said. "They were spectacular tonight. ... I thought we were sloppy in a lot of ways, but I thought our bench saved us. They came in and opened the floor and just played and got ball movement, but then on the other end I thought they got a ton of stops and scores. So that was huge for us.
"There are going to be nights like that in the playoffs where starters may need a lift, and tonight was one of those nights."
Doc Rivers' refusal to stagger his minutes and keep at least one of the Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan has been a polarizing topic, but after nights like these, it's hard to disagree with.
The Clippers' bench outscored their Blazers counterparts, 43-10, led by Jamal Crawford (11 points), Jeff Green (10), Austin Rivers (9) and Cole Aldrich (8). Every bench player that played more than one minute had a plus-minus of at least plus-15. For comparison, the highest starter was Chris Paul, with a plus-minus of plus-8.
During the regular season, the main bench lineup used in the playoffs — featuring Aldrich, Green, Wesley Johnson, Crawford and Austin Rivers — outscored opponents by 1.0 points per 100 possessions (in 56 minutes of total action).
Though a net-positive (barely), that figure is considerably lower than most lineups featuring three or four of the Clippers' starters. There's a stark drop-off between the starters and the bench, despite the team often claiming the contrary. Grab any four-man bench combination, and almost all have negative net ratings — most in double-digits.
In the playoffs, however, that lineup has outscored the Blazers by 32.1 points per 100 possessions. It's an incredibly small sample size, to be sure, but also an incredibly important one. Playoff series aren't 82 games. There are seven games max, making every lineup and rotational decision tilt the outcome of a game with greater significance.
For the Clippers to have found a bench combination that is giving the starters rest and clamping down on whatever combination the Blazers throw at them. The bench has several weapons offensively — Crawford, Green, Austin Rivers, Paul Pierce — but its defense has been the fulcrum of the unit, which has only developed with time.
"I just think they've grown through the year," Doc Rivers said. "They started out slow, and it took me [a while] trying to find the right combination of guys."
Whether the Clippers' bench can sustain their play against superior competition is a whole other issue.
It's one thing to do it against the 44-win Blazers, who would typically be a seventh or eighth seed in a normal year. It's a completely different thing to do it against the 73-win Warriors or 67-win Spurs in later rounds.
But the Clippers will cross that bridge when they get to it. As long as they do.
The team is traveling to Portland, hoping to close out the series, or at least split the pair of games and head back to Los Angeles to finish things off in Game 5.
After blowing a 3-1 series to the Rockets in last season's playoffs, the Clippers can't afford to take anyone lightly — even a team they feel they've established they're clearly better than.
"Just look at what happened last year," Griffin said. "3-1, 2-0, it's pretty much the same thing. I think that's in our minds, and I think the way we practiced yesterday, the way we practice these next two days will be big for setting the tone for Game 3 and 4.
"The one thing, I don't think I've ever won a series that wasn't a Game 7, so that's kind of the next step is closing out a series without enduring too much energy and without taking it to seven games.
"Taking care of business when you do have a lead like this."
Jovan Buha covers the NBA for FOX Sports. Follow him on Twitter: @jovanbuha.
