The Portland Trail Blazers, already contending with numerous injuries, ventured into their game Friday night against the LA Clippers without starting center Deandre Ayton.
Elbow tendinitis led to Ayton being somewhat of a surprise scratch from the lineup. That left Anfernee Simons as the lone veteran in a Blazers’ starting five that featured four rookies.
But Simons, who had a poor shooting night, ultimately exited the game in the third quarter with a knee injury and did not return.
The results were predictable and swift. The Clippers put up 42 points in the first quarter, led by 17 at halftime and by as much as 26 in the fourth quarter before winning 125-117.
But don’t be fooled by the final score. The results were never in doubt in the second half.
The night did feature some positives for the Blazers, however. Rookie Scoot Henderson, who had been struggling for a few weeks, led the Blazers with 24 points and 10 assists. He shot 8 of 18 from the field and hit 3 of 6 threes.
“I just thought it was an awesome bounce-back game for Scoot,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “For him to just be aggressive and be attacking the entire time.”
Rookie forward Kris Murray, coming off scoring a career-high 17 points during Wednesday night’s loss to the Clippers, followed up by setting a new career-best with 21 points on 8-of-15 shooting. He hit on 3 of 6 threes and grabbed seven rebounds.
Both rookies started next to Simons, and along with center Duop Reath and forward Toumani Camara.
Simons had one of his worst games of the season, shooting 1 of 6 from the field for three points in 22 minutes.
The Clippers took full advantage of the young and inferior Blazers by shooting 62.1% through three quarters. They finished at 56.4% which included going 14 of 33 on threes (42.4%).
Paul George led the Clippers with 31 points and Kawhi Leonard scored 22 with six rebounds James Harden had an off-shooting night (5 of 13) but finished with 15 points and 10 assists.
Billups praised his players for performing better than they did during Wednesday’s 116-103 loss in which Portland committed 18 turnovers.
“We wanted to play faster today,” Billups said. “We wanted to get our ball movement up, our player movement up. We did both of those things very well. We wanted to not turn it over, we had three turnovers at the half.”
What the Blazers couldn’t do was cool off the Clippers’ shooters.
“The shot-making was incredible,” Billups said. “But I didn’t think we played poorly at all … We just played against a team that’s got a lot more years of experience.”
In the end, any type of growth displayed by a young lineup against a star-studded team like the Clippers is a positive.
“What I love about it is you get a chance to do it against the same team a couple of days later and just see,” Billups said. “See if we can make some adjustments, see if we can play better. See if we can play harder ... It was a good response for us. “Obviously, we lose the game, but I felt like we got better in the process.”
WHAT IT MEANS
The Clippers (44-25) completed their four-game season sweep of the Blazers (19-51) who have the fifth-worst record in the NBA. The Blazers are 1 1/2 games ahead of the Charlotte Hornets (17-52), who have the fourth-worst record in the league.
SIMONS FROM THREE
It was an off night for Simons but his one three-point field goal had meaning. The make gave him 752 for his career pushing him into fifth all-time on the Blazers’ list just ahead of Nicolas Batum (751). Simons now trails Terry Porter (773) for fourth.
Simons injured his knee when he came up limping after recording an assist on a pass to Camara. The forward’s lay-up brought the score to 86-64, Clippers with 7:05 remaining in the third quarter.
NEXT UP
The Blazers host the Denver Nuggets (49-21) at 7 p.m. Saturday.
Latest Blazers news
- Anfernee Simons leaves LA Clippers game in 3rd quarter with knee injury
- Trail Blazers avoid blowout with 4th-quarter rally, lose 125-117 to LA Clippers: Live updates recap
- Trail Blazers’ Deandre Ayton out for Friday night against the LA Clippers
- Scoot Henderson struggles, Kris Murray flashes, Chauncey Billups’ future: Blazer Focused podcast
- Portland Trail Blazers vs. LA Clippers: Game preview, prediction, time, TV channel, how to watch free live stream online
-- Aaron Fentress | [email protected] | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook)
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