Portland Trail Blazers Obtain NBA’s Best Record At 24-5 After 116-112 Overtime Victory Over Los Angeles Clippers.
This season, the Clippers really haven’t played well on the road this year, losing 8 of their 10 losses when not at Staples Center. Following their Christmas night controversial loss against the Golden State Warriors, where Blake Griffin was wrongly ejected; the Clippers were on the 2nd night of a back-to-back, this time against the Portland Trail Blazers.
Portland had been off since Saturday, so their team collectively had enough rest to prepare for their big Western Conference showdown last night. Blake Griffin and Chris Paul carried the load for the Clippers scoring 69 of the teams 112 points. Jamal Crawford provided their only help scoring 21 points, as fellow starters Jared Dudley remained scoreless and DeAndre Jordan (fouled out) had 2 points with a respectable 19 rebounds.
Portland needed overtime to defeat the Clippers, after Chris Paul single-handedly took over the game in the 4th quarter to give them a late scare. Fatigue finally kicked in for Los Angeles down the stretch, along with a costly foul from Matt Barnes, as the Blazers would win on the heroics of Lamarcus Aldridge and Nicolas Batum.
The Blazers now have the NBA’s best record, but will be playing the Miami Heat on Saturday, then the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday. Portland has been quiet this year remaining low key in the title discussions, but victories over Miami and Oklahoma City could give the NBA a more serious notice of the Blazers best season in 23 years.