Little help for Lillard as Blazers drop Game 1 to L.A.

Chris Paul outdueled Damian Lillard, and the result was a Game 1 victory for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Paul had a game-high 28 points and 11 assists as the Clippers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 115-95 in the opener of the best-of-seven playoff series in Los ­Angeles.
Lillard led the Blazers with 21 points and five assists but he didn’t have much help from his teammates.
Paul, on the other hand, had plenty.
“Will Blake Griffin be Blake Griffin?” was one of the key questions entering the series.
Griffin had the game’s first basket on a tip-in but the player having the biggest impact in the first few minutes of the game was playoff rookie Maurice Harkless, who had five early points.
But Griffin was also Griffin, setting the tone for an excellent first half and getting Harkless in foul trouble in the process.
Griffin had 13 points, one shy for the Clippers team lead at halftime. Harkless spent most of the first quarter watching after a promising start, picking up his second foul early in the first quarter and his third early in the second.
Griffin finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds on an efficient 5-of-10 shooting.
As he promised ­Saturday, Lillard was aggressive against the Clippers and the catalyst for the Blazers. Except nobody else on the team was responding to his play.
Lillard had a team-high 13 on 5-of-10 shooting while his teammates were 12-of-38 (31.5 percent) in the first half.
Things didn’t get much better in the second half as the Clippers pushed their lead to as high as
21 points.
Gerald Henderson joined Lillard in making some shots and scoring xx points off the bench, but the rest of the Blazers failed to step-up in Game 1.
Most notably, CJ McCollum, who averaged over 20 points per game this season, was a virtual non-factor.
McCollum finished the game with nine points on 3-of-11 shooting. McCollum failed to score in double-figures only once during the regular season.
Luc Mbah a Moute guarded him most of the game but McCollum also had the tough task of chasing JJ Redick around the perimeter.
The young Blazers showed their youth in this game, getting manhandled on the boards by the bigger, more veteran Clippers, 48-40. The Clippers were one of the three worst rebounding teams in the regular season but none of that mattered in Game 1.
Al-Farouq Aminu was left open several times but didn’t hit enough (2 for 8 from 3-point range) from the outside to make his strong rebounding performance count.
Aminu was a 36 percent 3-point shooter in the regular season, but the Clippers showed his abilities little respect Sunday and were proven right.
Game 2 will be 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in Los Angeles.