We should all be confident at this point, but this is a Clipper team which won 53 games during the regular season. Much of which was without their star PF. We need to respect our opponent and come out in LA doing what we did in PDX to get these wins. Come out with intensity on the defensive end, and movement on the offensive end. Keep moving the ball until it finds the open shooter, and trust that person to keep the defense honest. Keep moving off ball on the pick and roll, if they double Lillard at the top of the key it is going to leave open cuts into the paint.
It's already been decided. Without the best PG in the league, the Clippers are just a bunch of prima donnas. It's like herding cats.
The Blazers should be favored....just like the Clippers would be overwhelming favorites if Lillard was out. Portland has to go take care of business.
I'm concerned that some of the Blazers still don't realize how important every possession is in the playoffs. You cannot take crazy off-balance shots with plenty of time left on the clock. You cannot celebrate after you make a great shot, running down the court smiling at someone on the bench while making special hand gesticulations. (Do I sound like a grouchy old man or a guy who would hate to fail to take advantage of the opportunity presented to us by the Paul injury?)
Whatever the Blazers do, they need to come out with the mentality that they have to win and play balls to the wall. The Clippers could still win this game and the series.
I'd still stay guarded. Our team is bipolar at times. Would be more comfortable if Dame was playing better. At least his runs are usually sustainable. But his decision making has been OK, and his shot selection has been suspect (at best). With such heavy reliance on Aminu and Crabbe, et al to perform well, I still have to be cautious about making us favorites in anything. I don't think those guys are still at a place where we can rely on them to get 15 a night.
You can never tell how a situation like this will impact the team that suffered the injury. They may be emotionally down - or they may come out breathing fire. This is our best chance to steal a game in LA - but we can't take anything for granted.
Agreed. Any win is a great win in the Playoffs, but I thought we kinda played like hot garbage last night. We won because our mediocre players (Aminu/Crabbe) actually made their shots, and their good, but streaky players (Crawford/JJ) missed their shots. Even after CP3 went down we couldn't seem to step on their throats until late in the 4th were a couple shots finally expanded the lead to double-digits and gave us the breathing room to win comfortably.
Someone's never heard of the Ewing Theory/Trap Game. Being a Blazers fan I never count my chickens before they are hatched. History has shown us not to.
Our boys need to be aggressive and not let up during the game. Give the Clippers a good old-fashioned beatdown in LA!
Game 5 is vital, even if Blake plays having just one day off isn't enough rest for his quad he will be slowed by it. The team will also still be deflated by the loss of CP3. The Clippers are like the Rockets to me in that they lack the perseverance to battle through because they are always too focused on working the refs instead of just playing the game. CP3 is the one guy that had that little bit of mental focus to keep that team glued together. If we let them win game 5 though that will mean we have to win a game 7 there when they would have momentum again.
