Clippers' Big 3 huge in Game 1 win over Portland

LOS ANGELES – If the Clippers are going to beat the Portland Trail Blazers in their series with one another, the plan isn’t that complicated.

The Clippers have to keep Portland’s guards from taking over, and they have to keep their big men from dominating the offensive glass.

Everything else is just less consequential.

Slowing the Clippers, it’s a little more complicated.

“They have so many ways they can hurt you,” Portland coach Terry Stotts said before Game 1.

Sunday night, the Clippers hurt the Blazers in a bit of a throwback fashion. They did it with brute, they did it with length and they did it with height.

Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan were too big and too strong for Portland’s undersized lineups, opening the postseason with a 115-95 win Sunday at Staples Center.

Before Chris Paul got going – and he sure got going – the Clippers leaned on the their jumbo frontcourt, something that would’ve been unthinkable a few months ago.

For 45 straight games this season, the Clippers were without Griffin due to leg and hand and then leg (again) injuries, forcing Coach Doc Rivers to do the one thing he’s always said he wanted to do – play small.

It was something he thought the team would do when it acquired Jared Dudley two seasons ago. It was an ill-fated plan last season when he tried it with Hedo Turkoglu.

With Griffin out, Rivers had no choice. He had to play small.

The Clippers had success with the strategy, becoming a guing team, shooting almost five more 3’s per game without Griffin than they did with him.

But in the final weeks of the regular season, Griffin came back.

Eschewing from the long ball, the Clippers ran most of their early offense through Griffin, who bullied smaller defenders such as Mo Harkless and Al-Farouq Aminu, forcing them to commit fouls or give up point-blank buckets.

Griffin shot 12 free throws, hitting nine, during a 19-point, 12-rebound effort. DeAndre Jordan constantly put smaller defenders on his back, scoring easy buckets in the paint.

The one Portland big man with actual size, Mason Plumlee, got jammed on by Griffin three times.

The Clippers attempted just two 3-point shots in the first half and 17 in the game – tied for the second-fewest long-range tries by the Clippers this season.

The inside attack opened things up in the long mid-range, where J.J. Redick and Jamal Crawford were able to do damage, with Paul ruing the show.

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Paul was stellar, scoring 28 points – 26 in the final three quarters – to go with 11 assists.

Portland’s backcourt, Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum, the two guys the Clippers wanted to stop, combined for 30 points on 10-for-28 shooting.

The offensive rebounding wasn’t much of a problem either, with Portland scoring just five second-chance points.

Sunday, it was the Clippers’ size that gave Portland problems.

Wednesday in Game 2, it could be something else

Like Stotts said, the Clippers have “so many ways” to get it done.