National Basketball Association

Trail Blazers Player Grades: Los Angeles Victorious in Portland

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Rip City Project hands out player grades for the Trail Blazers 114-106 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers

The Trail Blazers were unable to keep up their winning ways against the Clippers last night, which resulted in their first loss of the 2016-17 campaign. It was close to a playoff atmosphere inside the Moda Center, as these two teams clearly don’t care for each other. Let’s now take a look at some of the individual performances from Thursday night.

Damian Lillard

PG, 29 PTS / 3 AST / 10 REB / .458 FG%

BLillard came out firing against the Clippers and racked up 10 points in the early going. Unfortunately for Portland, he was unable to regain that pace until the game was basically out of reach. Doc Rivers placed a larger defender on Lillard for long stretches of the game, which had a clear impact on his ability to connect on shots from distance. Expect him to get his three point shot going early against the Nuggets on Saturday.

C.J. McCollum

SG, 16 PTS / 2 AST / 4 REB / .416 FG%

CMcCollum did an adequate job with the starting unit, but he did very little to impact the game when playing with the reserves. The Trail Blazers’ bench looked extremely shaky, which means that McCollum is going to have to pick up the slack when everyone around him is struggling. On the plus side, he did a solid job limiting J.J. Redick’s effectiveness. Redick was held to just eight points and only connected on one shot from beyond the arc.

Maurice Harkless

SF, 23 PTS / 2 AST / 8 REB / .667 FG%

AHarkless recovered from his underwhelming season opening performance to put on a show against the Clippers. He only trailed Lillard in the points column for the Trail Blazers and connected on ten of his fifteen shots. This is the type of production we should come to expect from the newly re-signed wing.

Al-Farouq Aminu

PF, 1 PTS / 2 AST / 8 REB / 1 BLK

DEarly foul trouble doomed Aminu in last night’s loss. After sitting out for a large portion of the first half he was never able to find his rhythm on offense. Larger power forwards with serious post moves might be a problem for the Trail Blazers all year, but few are more dangerous than a healthy Blake Griffin.Next: More From Rip City Project

Mason Plumlee

C, 17 PTS / 4 AST / 8 REB / 3 BLK

B+Plumlee stepped up in a big way in the face of the Clippers’ dominant post players. DeAndre Jordan and Plumlee were chippy all game, which resulted in a technical and flagrant foul for Portland’s starting center. Keeping him on the court will be key for the Trail Blazers moving forward, as this game proved he is capable of producing on both ends when he stays out of early foul trouble.