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Yuck. It was almost expected that the Clippers were going to have a long night after that crushing loss to the Warriors last night, but this game was just ugly. What's more frustrating is that tonight's loss was again very winnable, but some recurring mistakes really cost us.
The Rebounding: Absolutely horrendous. Every time the Clippers seemingly made a defensive stop, the Blazers would clean it up with an offensive rebound and 2nd chance opportunities. Ed Davis finished with 10, yes TEN, offensive rebounds.
Late Game Execution: Similar to last night's game, our 4th quarter offense (and defense) looked miserable out there. Slow, isolation heavy offense, and ugly shooting all around. There is not a single culprit to blame, because the entire team was pretty horrific to watch.
And just a couple of other notes:
Return of Redick and Lance: Redick came back and nailed his first shot, but after a scare during the 2nd possession, he had a pretty rough night on both ends. Lance played with some high energy, but after making a poor decision on a fast break, he got chewed out by Doc and bench for much of the game.
Pierce out? Pierce sat out tonight for rest, and quite frankly, the 2nd unit looked better with Luc Mbah a Moute taking his spot. The bench mob was pretty ugly on offense, but their defense was strong and unrelenting. This second unit can work, and they can use Jamal's offense, but he just needs to refine his shot selection a bit more. Speaking of Jamal, he had a very solid night making 5-8 3's and giving us 20 points.
Griffin: Griffin started off the night already looking a bit sluggish, but after tweaking his knee on a jumpshot, he looked pretty weak out there. His lateral movement was limited, and his defense and body language were terrible. Outside of a couple of nice jumpshots, he was really struggling out there.
CJ and Lillard: They killed us. McCollum was beating everyone with his absurdly quick first step, and Dame came in a finished the job with some incredible shots.
Anyways, another frustrating loss tonight and the Clippers definitely have somethings to brush up on. Hopefully they figure it out soon, because this Western Conference is not forgiving.