The Portland Trail Blazers ruined any chance for the Clippers to complete their comeback Saturday night with a big dunk from Maurice Harkless. It was a nice win for the team who can even up the series at home Monday night. 630 miles south in Oakland, the Golden State Warriors also celebrated a Blazers win over their rivals. While Steph Curry rests his sore ankle, foot, whatever they’re report, this Clippers loss gave The Warriors a break against their eventual foe.
Both the Warriors and Clippers are expected to win their 1st round series and after the first two games it looked like sweeps for Portland and Houston. After Curry had an injury, the Warriors lost in the last seconds of game 3 leaving me to worry the series could stretch out while the Clippers mop The Blazers. Somewhere in Atlanta Charles Barkley pumped his fist but as we’ve come to expect DeAndre Jordan missed all but one free throw at the end of the game 3. The Clippers clipped. While I expect both series to only go five this was a lost opportunity for the Clippers who could make round two difficult for the Warriors. Extra days of rest and a longer series for the Warriors would have given the Clips some advantage, especially if Houston wins another game.
We’ll see how the next few games bare out. I expect the Warriors to win tonight with Curry starting and Blazers pushing hard for a win at home Monday. If both favorites win game 4 each respective series is most likely over, and the Warriors and Clippers will meet after just five games. Either way the Warriors will be fully loaded and have the same amount rest, if not more, than the Clippers. It’s another lost opportunity and perhaps the end of a run for this Clippers team. You can only hope they don’t lose because of Hack-a-Jordan in the fourth quarter.
Disaesthetic 