LOS ANGELES – Damian Lillard scored 28 points and the Portland Trail Blazers ended the Los Angeles Clippers season with a 106-103 victory in Game 6 to win the first-round playoff series 4-2.
Portland will meet the reigning NBA Champion Golden State Warriors in the second round, without their star and MVP Steph Curry on Sunday.
The Trail Blazers had five players score in double figures as they closed out the Clippers, winning the final four games of the series after trailing 0-2 after the first two games at Staples Center.
C.J. McCollum was the Robin to Lillard's Batman with 20 points. Maurice Harkless had 14, Allen Crabbe had 13, and Al-Farouq Aminu chipped in 10.
Jamal Crawford scored a postseason career-high 32 points off the bench in what could be his final game in a Clippers uniform.
"I've been around a long time, but what I love about this group is they never look for an excuse, they never doubted themselves," Rivers said of his team. "That team had more heart than any team I've ever seen. It was amazing to coach them."
The Blazers bloodied up Clippers' guard Austin Rivers when Al-Farouq Aminu elbowed the son of Doc Rivers in the eye, cutting him in two different places.
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Rivers headed to the locker room, where he was attended to by the Trail Blazers medical staff for more than thirty minutes before he came back out onto the court looking like a boxer who just went through a 15-round prize fight.
"It looked like a boxing match," his father and Head Coach said. "He's a baller."
Rivers received four stitches on a cut above his eye, and seven stitches to repair a cut below his eye.
After getting 11 stitches total, Austin Rivers is ready to play again. https://t.co/3cj9p9o5QH — Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) April 30, 2016
Playing with one eye, Rivers rallied the Clippers in the second half, scoring 21 points and dishing out eight assists as he left everything had on the court.
"We left it all out there," Rivers said. "Obviously I'm sad. We put it all out there. We tried our best."
Portland dominated the first half with 15 second chance points, but the Clippers adjusted at half time and reversed the trend, scoring 13 of their own in the third quarter only.
The game was tied at 103-103 with thirty seconds remaining. McCollum missed a jumper in the key, but Mason Plumlee was fouled on the rebound. The Portland center knocked down both free throws, and a Crawford miss on the other end sealed the Clippers fate.
Perhaps, their fate was already sealed when the team lost All-Stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin in Game 4 of the series. Ultimately, the team was cursed from that point on, and their four-game collapse was imminent.
"People don't know how hard it is to win a title," added Rivers. "If you don't win a title you have a speech, and I don't know if I've ever been in a locker room where that's easy. It's emotional and there's a lot of tears.
Paul broke a bone in his right hand that ended his season, and minutes later, Griffin re-aggravated a left quad injury also put an end to his.
The Clippers have now lost in the first or second round of the playoffs for the fifth consecutive season and join the Boston Celtics as the only other team in NBA history to be eliminated from four straight playoff series after holding a series lead.
"Every year I tell our team that you have to be willing to get your heartbroken to be a champion," Rivers concluded.
Players of the Game:
Damian Lillard: 28 points, 7 assists.
Jamal Crawford: 32 points, three steals.
Three Takeaways:
1. Bye, Bye, Big 3?: The disappointing season could mark an end to the "Big 3" of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan. After five consecutive first or second round playoff exits, Doc Rivers could opt to break up the trip and rebuild.
NBA Playoffs 2016: L.A. Clippers facing the end of an era in Portland tonight: With Blake Griffin and Chris P... https://t.co/ENRNyVnhpw — Golden State of Mind (@unstoppablebaby) April 30, 2016
2. Yo, Adrian. I Did It!: Similar to the plot line for Rocky, when Balboa is proud for just going the distance against the champion Apollo Creed, Austin Rivers should be proud of his performance in Game 6 after needing 11 stitches to his left eye in the fourth quarter.
Looks like something out of a Rocky movie Austin Rivers showed alot of heart tonight pic.twitter.com/2Ki68dvckv — GSH (@gman416) April 30, 2016
3. Splash Brothers of the Pacific Northwest: The Blazers backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum were sensational agian in Game 6.
Lillard finds McCollum for the 3 on ESPN! #NBARapidReplay #CLIPPERSvBLAZERS https://t.co/5sXX0EWCln — NBA (@NBA) April 30, 2016
Up Next:
The Los Angeles Clippers season comes to an end prematurely for the second straight season. The Trail Blazers advance to the second round to face the Golden State Warriors.
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