PORTLAND, Ore.- – Paul George led the the Clippers with 27 points and James Harden added 19 points and 14 assists as the Clippers beat the Portland Trailblazers 116-103 on Wednesday night in Portland.
The Clippers started to pull away early after a 33-22 second quarter advantage gave the Clippers a 10 point lead, 60-50, at the the half.
The third quarter also belonged to Los Angeles who scored 34 points in the quarter behind 17 of Kawhi Leonard’s 24 points for the game.
The Clippers defense was the star of the night as they forced Portland into 17 turnovers.
“We got really good individuals on the defensive side and we put it together tonight,” George said. “We played good defense, we got stops, we got out and got some easy opportunities.”
We hear all the time that basketball is a game of runs and the Clippers runs in the second and third quarters put the game away for Los Angeles.
“We had a mindset of let’s get another run,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said of the Clippers’ ability to extend leads. “Even though they called a timeout to stop the run, let’s be professional. I give our guys credit — tonight, they did that.”
With the win, the Clippers now sit one game above the New Orleans Pelicans for the fourth seed in the Western Conference.
The teams meet again Friday night in Portland to complete a two-game set before Los Angeles heads home for back to back games on Sunday and Monday night.
