The Trail Blazers (12-13) wrap-up a disappointing 1-3 road trip tonight facing a wavering LA Clippers (17-7) team. This will be the third meeting of the season series, with the Clippers winning the first two by a combined 39 points.
The Clippers earned their revenge from last years playoffs over the first two meetings between these teams. It’s been brutal for Portland. Of course, for the second meeting between these two, Al-Farouq Aminu was out. Unfortunately, on top of missing the last game against the Indiana Pacers, Aminu’s back injury is expected to keep him off the floor tonight as well.
Wishful thinking
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Rip City Project 1 dTrail Blazers Suffer Third Straight Heartbreaking Loss
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Despite drubbing the New Orleans Pelicans by 18 points on Saturday – during which, star guard Chris Paul went for 20 points and 20 assists without a single turnover – doubts have been cast as to the championship pedigree of the LA outfit. Last Wednesday, the Clippers were on the receiving end of a beat down at the hands of the Golden State Warriors. And, following such a convincing decimation, questions of title hopes and trade talk immediately began to surface.
If any element of doubt or negativity has been allowed to creep into the Clippers collective mind-set, then maybe the Trail Blazers have a shot at a road win. Though this line of thought is largely misplaced optimism rather than a potential strategy for victory. LA are too strong and will likely use the loss to the Warriors as motivation for dominating opponents going forward.
Paint job
Blake Griffin returns to action tonight, having missed the New Orleans game with soreness in his right knee. The front-court presence of Griffin and DeAndre Jordan is a formidable sight for any foe, but for the Trail Blazers and their much-maligned big men it presents much more of an issue. Across their 24 games so far this year, the Clips are getting 35.1% of their points in the paint. Versus Portland, this jumps to 40.9%.
In addition, LA have a number of mismatches they look to exploit against Portland in isolation sets. A season average of 42.7% of field goals made being unassisted, jumps to 52% against the Trail Blazers. Barring a small miracle, Rip City will slide further away from .500 tonight.
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