Luke Kennard scored 23pts for the Clippers and tied his career-high with 6 three-pointers. The LA Clippers dominated the game and beat the Portland Trail Blazers 116-86, which was their first win of the season.
Kennard Was Extremely Good For The Clippers On Monday
Kennard was elated and stated that if he managed to score three in a row, he gets more aggressive in the next few shots. He had guys looking for him in the transition which is where he tried to sneak around the Portland defense.
Reggie Jackson added 18 points and Paul George had 16 points to help the Clippers avoid their first 0-3 start since 2010-11 when coach Vinny Del Negro was in his first season.
CJ McCollum scored 20 points for the Blazers in their first road game of the season. Damian Lillard’s slow start to the season continued. He was held to 12 points on 4 of 15 shooting and missed all eight of his 3-point attempts. Portland shot 38% from the floor and had 15 assists, both lows in the young season. The Clippers’ defense never let the Blazers get an extended run going in and forced 30 turnovers.
The Clippers managed to lose the first 2 games by a tiny combined margin of 8 points. They chose to go aggressive early in this game and led by 14 points after both the starting quarters. They shot 49% from the floor in the first half of the game. Kennard had 17 pts off the bench by HT, hitting 4 three-pointers and tied with his career-high sixth 3 to open the fourth quarter.
Clippers coach, Tyronn Lue, stated that Kennard got them going in the first half of the game. The players understood that when he was on the floor, all of them had to look out for him.
The Clippers extended their lead to 30 pts going into the fourth quarter, allowing their starters to rest. The second unit easily maintained the momentum against Portland’s reserves in what amounted to a scrimmage that sent the fans to the exits in droves. Terance Mann hit a 3-pointer to push the Clippers into triple digits, 100-65, and finished with 13 points.
