LOS ANGELES — Blake Griffin had 22 points and 13 rebounds, Chris Paul added 19 points, and the Los Angeles Clippers rolled past the Portland Trail Blazers 111-80 on Wednesday night to improve to an NBA-best 7-1 with their fourth straight win. It was the Clippers’ second victory over the Blazers this season.
This one was never close.
The Clippers stunned Portland from the opening tip, shooting 59 percent in the first quarter. They built a 32-point lead in the first half when Griffin had 17 points.
Los Angeles’ bench opened the second quarter on a 14-2 run to go up 50-18 before extending the lead to 61-32 at halftime.
Portland’s Damian Lillard, the NBA’s second-leading scorer at 32.8 points, was held to eight points. CJ McCollum, who was averaging 22.9 points, also scored eight.
The Blazers didn’t have anyone in double figures until Shabazz Napier hit a 3-pointer with under 2 minutes left in the game. He led the team with 11 points.
DeAndre Jordan had 16 points and nine rebounds and J.J. Redick added 10 points for the Clippers, who sat their starters for good at 3:54 of the third while owning a 44-point lead.
Before the starters left, they began the quarter with a 17-3 run that stretched the Clippers’ lead to 78-35. Each of the five starters scored in the spurt.
Paul and Luc Mbah a Moute each had a 3-pointer and Jordan slammed down a two-handed fastbreak dunk off Griffin’s alley-oop pass.
It was one of three signature dunks by Jordan in the period that ended with consecutive 3-pointers by reserves Marreese Speights and Austin Rivers, leaving the Clippers ahead 93-50.
The Clippers’ defense held Portland to 35 shooting. The Blazers made just 6 of 30 3-point attempts as their three-game winning streak got snapped.
Tip-ins
Trail Blazers: Portland failed to score at least 100 points for the first time in nine games.
Portland was held to 16 points in the first, a season-low for a quarter.
Portland was playing the second half of a back-to-back, having won at Phoenix by three points on Tuesday.
Clippers: With his fifth rebound in the first quarter, Griffin reached 4,000 in 417 career games, the second-fastest player since 1983-84 to reach 8,500-plus points, 4,000-plus rebounds and 1,500-plus assists. Chris Webber did so in 408 games.
Jordan played his 600th career game, joining Randy Smith (715) and Eric Piatkowski (616) as the only players in franchise history to do so.
Up next
Trail Blazers: Host Sacramento on Friday, a team that’s lost to the Blazers in six straight games and 10 of the last 12 matchups.
Clippers: Visit Oklahoma City on Friday, the only team they have lost to so far. The Thunder won by two points in L.A. last week.
