LA Clippers Make Miraculous Comeback To Win 115-109 In Preseason Finale

You are forgiven if you turned off Thursday night’s preseason game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Portland Trail Blazers. You are forgiven if you didn’t even tune in to begin with. After all, nothing exciting happens in the preseason, right?

Wrong.

The Clippers and Trail Blazers embarked on one of the most exciting preseason games that I can remember, not that there are a ton of preseason games to remember. The game’s main piece of intrigue is that it tied the mark for the second biggest comeback in NBA history. It also involved Damian Lillard taking over, the Clippers bench flashing their potential, highlight reel-worthy dunks and blocks, and a little beef between coaches. For a preseason game, it was more than a fan could’ve asked for.

Let’s start with the comeback. After the first quarter, the Blazers had a commanding 45-17 lead, including a 20-0 run that was soon followed by another 15-2 run. The Clippers looked sluggish, Damian Lillard was looking like a dark horse for the scoring title, and C.J. McCollum was showing the scoring and shooting prowess that has Blazers fans excited for his new role with the team. That 28-point lead eventually crept up to 35 midway through the second quarter when the Blazers led 64-29.

Instead of giving up, the Clippers fought back.

The Clippers came back and eventually won 115-109 behind 22 points from Blake Griffin and a complete team effort with key contributions from every player who stepped on the floor. The Clippers played 10 players in the game and allowed Jamal Crawford to sit out the preseason finale for rest. The team effort showed just how scary this team’s potential is when everything is clicking. All 10 players who entered the game played at least 19 minutes and all made their presence felt. The bench added 42 points on 54% shooting, with 35 of those points coming from Paul Pierce and Austin Rivers. The team effort proved to be too much for the Blazers even as Damian Lillard went off for 39 points, five rebounds, and nine assists.

Pierce received his most minutes in the preseason and gave the type of performance that the Clippers imagined when he signed with the team. Pierce scored 19 points with two rebounds and four assists and knocked down five of his seven three-pointers. The highlight of the game for Pierce was a key run in which he hit three-pointers on three consecutive possessions.

Here is a video of his four three-pointers in the pivotal fourth quarter, including the three consecutive threes that cut a 10-point deficit into a single point.

Take a look at who is on the court for the Clippers during the stretch in which Pierce caught fire. Notice that Noah Vonleh is defending him and giving Pierce way too much space for the first two. This is the advantage that playing Pierce at power forward enables and that I covered here. Vonleh doesn’t trust himself on the perimeter so he takes his chance on Pierce shooting instead of driving past him.

The veteran Pierce acknowledged that this comeback victory will be remembered throughout the season when they’re down.

This group has already proven to themselves that no lead is insurmountable when they’re down and found out against the Rockets that no lead is safe when you let your foot off of the pedal. The preseason is a time for learning and the incredible comeback could give the team the confidence they need when they find themselves down.

As for elsewhere in the game, we were treated to a few other highlights. No highlight was better than the terrifying two-man fast break between Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, which concluded in — you guessed it — an alley-oop.

Griffin and Jordan aren’t the only uber-athletic big men on the team, as Josh Smith proved with a swatting of Damian Lillard’s layup in transition.

If the dramatic comeback and additions to the highlight reels of Pierce, Griffin, Jordan, and Smith weren’t enough for you, how about a little beef between head coaches Doc Rivers and Terry Stotts? Rivers and Stotts got into a shouting match about the etiquette of the bench. The Clippers bench was standing throughout the team’s completion of the comeback during the fourth quarter and celebrating after good plays. Stotts took offense given that the league has sent memos requesting benches to remain seated. We’ll see how the feud plays itself out on November 20th when the Clippers travel to Portland for the first meeting between the two teams in the regular season.

The announced crowd of 13,969 at the Staples Center got their money’s worth. The astonishing comeback is just what the Clippers needed as a boost before the regular season, which begins on Wednesday, October 28th against DeMarcus Cousins and the Sacramento Kings.

Next: 25 Best Players to Play for the Los Angeles Clippers

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