Reserves come up big as Clippers pull away in the fourth quarter for 102-81 win
Clippers power forward Blake Griffin attacks the basket between Trail Blazers defenders Mason Plumlee (24) and Maurice Harkless (4) during the fourth quarter of Game 2.
Jamal Crawford stood near midcourt before the game, fans roaring as he received a record third NBA sixth-man-of-the-year award.
The next 2 1/2 hours was an ode to the entire Clippers’ bench.
The reserves sparked a couple of big runs that carried the Clippers to a 102-81 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night at Staples Center in Game 2 of an increasingly one-sided first-round playoff series.
Crawford, Austin Rivers, Jeff Green, Cole Aldrich and Wesley Johnson extended what had been a six-point lead entering the fourth quarter to 16 before the starters returned to finish off the Trail Blazers.
“They were spectacular tonight on both ends,” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said of his reserves. “They saved the game for us.”
Blake Griffin further deflated Portland with a ferocious one-handed dunk to help the Clippers take a 2-0 lead in a best-of-seven series that will shift to Portland for Game 3 on Saturday at the Moda Center.
None of the final tallies were pretty for Portland. The Clippers’ reserves outscored their Trail Blazers counterparts, 43-10, with Crawford (11 points) and Green (10) leading the way and Austin Rivers making a three-pointer at the end of the shot clock with 8:35 left that Portland Coach Terry Stotts cited as a momentum-shifting moment because it extended the Clippers’ lead to 76-63.
Things were going so well that Clippers point guard Chris Paul asked his coach midway through the fourth quarter if he was sure he wanted to put the starters back in.
“They were rolling,” Paul said of the reserves. “We all know, let them keep rolling until they really need a break.”
Portland guards Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum failed in their attempt to bounce back from a subpar opening game, largely suffering a repeat. They combined for 33 points but made 12 of 39 shots, not exactly a winning formula for a team that shot only 34.1%.
The Clippers’ backcourt of Paul (25 points) and J.J. Redick (17) was solid again and Griffin finished with 12 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Clippers center DeAndre Jordan had 18 rebounds, five assists and three points. He made only one of six free throws, but it hardly mattered because his team’s reserves were so good.
Doc Rivers liked everything about his bench, from the way it spaced the court and moved the ball to all of the stops it got behind the nonstop activity of his son and the flailing arms of Aldrich.
“I think you can go down the line, one by one,” Redick said. “Each of them made just a ton of great individual effort plays.”
The Clippers held the Trail Blazers to 17 points in the first quarter but couldn’t celebrate because they managed only 22. Redick scored 11 points in the game’s first seven minutes but both teams missed easy shots around the basket in bunches.
A flurry by the Clippers’ reserves pushed their lead to 15 early in the second quarter, with Aldrich scoring on a couple of jump hooks and Austin Rivers making his first three shots. Then a stretch of sloppiness was followed by something even more unsightly: a Clippers fan in a Griffin T-shirt giving a shout-out to the Lakers’ Kobe Bryant over a microphone as an unplanned part of a timeout promotion.
Portland center Mason Plumlee, repeatedly victimized by Griffin on dunks in the opener, took it to the Clippers with nine points in the second quarter. The Trail Blazers even momentarily found some success with their intentional-fouling strategy, sending Jordan to the free-throw line shortly before halftime.
Jordan missed both shots and Portland scored on two free throws during its next possession, trimming its deficit to 47-43 at halftime.
Lillard came up during the morning shoot-around, when Paul said he enjoyed watching the State Farm commercials featuring the Portland point guard as the baby of the “Hoopers” family during other playoff games because Paul’s real-life son knows the lyrics to the song that his imaginary one sings in the ad.
“So yeah, it’s fun,” Paul said.
It was about to get a whole lot more enjoyable.
ben.bolch@latimes.com
Twitter: @latbbolch
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