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The Clippers get past Trail Blazers in exhibition game, 109-108

Portland Trail Blazers' C.J. McCollum, right, drives past Clippers' DeAndre Jordan during the second half on Thursday.
(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)
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J.J. Redick has not been at his best during the exhibition season, his shooting not nearly as accurate as it has been over the first 10 years of his NBA career.

Redick has one of the best three-point shooting strokes in the league, but in his first two exhibition games for the Clippers, the 6-4 guard has mostly been missing his shots.

He entered Thursday night’s game against the Portland Trail Blazers making just 33.3% of his three-pointers in the exhibition season and just 26.7% of his field goals as a whole, but Redick said he wasn’t concerned.

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So in a 109-108 Clippers victory over Portland at Staples Center behind Jamal Crawford’s game-winning shot with 0.2 seconds left and Blake Griffin’s 26 points and Marreese Speights’ 16 points, Redick went right back to work.

He had eight points on 3-for-6 shooting, but he missed both of his three-pointers.

“I’ve never really put too much into the exhibition season,” Redick said. “I learned early on in my career that you can’t do that.

“In my second and third year, I had great exhibition seasons and then barely played. So for me, I want to feel like I’m in a rhythm. I would never look at percentages in the exhibition season.”

The truth is that Redick really has no reason to be worried. He led the NBA in three-point field-gold percentage last season, knocking down an amazing 47.5%.

Over his career, Redick has made 41.2% of his three-pointers.

“Listen, I’ve been in the league for 11 years,” Redick said. “I’ve gotten off to slow starts in the regular season and I’ve gotten off to fast starts. I’ve always said this: I believe in the law of averages. I’ve put the extra time in here shooting.”

Rivers suffers injury

Austin Rivers didn’t play against the Trail Blazers because of “soreness” in his groin.

Rivers said he had a “funny fall” during practice Wednesday, but he also said it wasn’t serious.

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The Clippers said Rivers is listed as day-to-day.

“I could play tonight. I want to play tonight,” Rivers said. “They were just like it’s not worth it. It’s just a preseason game. We have two more after this. We have a full week of practice.”

The Clippers don’t play again until Monday night at Utah.

“If this was a regular-season game, I would be playing,” Rivers said. “I want to play tonight. But that’s not my choice.”

Small-forward rotation

In the ever-changing rotation at small forward for the Clippers, Luc Mbah a Moute started his second game at the position. Alan Anderson started at small forward against Utah and Rivers started there in a three-guard lineup against Utah.

Mbah a Moute had six points in 25 minutes.

broderick.turner@latimes.com

Twitter: @BA_Turner

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