The Portland Trail Blazers entered Monday night’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers without starting guards Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Down 42 points before the opening tip, Portland made up for it with tougher-than-normal defense, gritty effort, plus big scoring nights from Jusuf Nurkic and Norman Powell. It wasn’t enough to secure victory, as L.A. streaked away in the fourth period to a 102-90 win. But it was better basketball than the Blazers played their prior game against the Boston Celtics. That’s something.
If you missed the contest, you can find our quarter-by-quarter recap here.