PORTLAND — It rained.
From the hands of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum, it rained.
From the 300 level, the “Beat L.A.” chants rained.
And with enough of that sweet water, as well as some guile provided by Mason Plumlee and Maurice Harkless, this best-of-seven series between the Blazers and Clippers finally bore fruit.
The Portland Trail Blazers made it a series Saturday night with a 96-88 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, led by a dynamic duo performance from Damian Lillard (32 points) and CJ McCollum (27 points).
On Lillard’s first look, he connected from long-range, exactly what the Blazers hoped would happen as the series shifted scenes after struggling to score in Game’s 1 and 2.
“The start he got off to, I thought it lifted everybody up,” Stotts said of Lillard’s start when he scored 12 in the first quarter.
With two minutes left in a chippy Game 3, Lillard lifted the Blazers up again, this time in the team huddle.
“I think with about two minutes left, it was a dead ball and I huddled the guys up and I asked, ‘Are y’all ready to go home? If we don’t finish this out that’s where we are going to be headed,'” Lillard said. “That’s the situation for us and every other team. This is it. Of course it’s going to get a little bit chippy.”
“He’s our leader, we all trust him and he pretty much said what we were all thinking,” Al-Farouq Aminu said of Lillard’s words in crunch time. “We don’t want to go home. We compete and we want to show everybody what we’re made of.”
A “Beat L.A.” chant almost immediately descended from the upper deck after Lillard’s first jumper and it was clear this series was far from over.
And although he barely scored, Plumlee was just as important, with a monstrous 21-rebound, nine-assist performance. He was three rebounds shy of a playoff franchise record held by Bill Walton.
“He had an exceptional game,” Blazers head coach Terry Stotts said of Plumlee. “The rebounding was the biggest thing. That’s kind of been a weak point for us in the series. The passing, he’s been doing that all year for us.”
Harkless (10 points and seven rebounds) guarded Chris Paul for most of the game but provided two crucial buckets and important offensive rebounds down the stretch.
The Blazers shot 6-of-24 from downtown but still managed to win thanks to out rebounding the Clippers 56-44 and the Clippers going 3-of-18 from distance.
“I thought our defense was consistent throughout the night,” Stotts said. “We didn’t have a real lull defensively, other than in the third when they made a run. The fact that we were able to stem the tide defensively (was important). It’s not like we had a good offensive night.”
Clippers coach Doc Rivers said of the Blazers: “I thought they were the more physical team tonight.”
Lillard was looking like himself for the first time in the series after his first 3-pointer. Later in the quarter he pulled up from way deep above the break to drain a line-drive three, a sure sign that he had it going.
The Blazers had flurries before, but an excellent finish to the first quarter sparked by defense from Allen Crabbe and punctuated by a pull-up 3 from McCollum in Austin Rivers’ face gave the Blazers a 22-19 first quarter lead.
The play was an important symbol of what the Blazers needed to change: Through the first two games, the Clippers reserves had dominated them and then in 30 seconds, the Blazers turned the tables.
The Blazers bench didn’t shoot well, but their defense on the Clippers’ second unit was much better.
The Clippers reserves outscored Portland’s 30-12, but the Blazers starters made up for it enough for it not to matter.
Outside of Jamal Crawford, the Clippers bench was 4-of-17 from the field.
After his celebratory last few days after winning the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award, McCollum turned Game 3 into his victory lap.
He hit tough shot after tough shot, including a huge 3-pointer over JJ Redick when the Blazers were down 4 with 3:31 left.
He reeled off eight of Portland’s 10 points, including back-to-back 3-point plays on Rivers, to push the Blazers lead to double-digits for the first time in the series with 7:01 left in the second quarter.
One thing that the Blazers needed to carry over was the improved play of Plumlee in Game 2.
Tempers, which had been bubbling since the start of the series, flared up in Game 3 as Paul picked up a technical with 6:21 left in the third quarter.
The Blazers didn’t make a shot in the first 2:48 of the fourth quarter but luckily for them, the Clippers were ice cold too but Stotts didn’t wait long before getting Lillard back into the game.
It didn’t stop the Clippers from taking the lead on a Jeff Green lay-up with 6:26 left as Paul led the way, forcing back-to-back Blazers turnovers.
The Clippers and Blazers traded blows but Portland stuck together and stayed in the series.
