Blazers play small-ball down stretch vs Clippers
Here’s the Oregonian with some insight on the Trail Blazers:
Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts turned to a small-ball lineup down the stretch and in overtime of the Portland’s comeback win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night.
LaMarcus Aldridge shifted to center, Nicolas Batum played de facto power forward along with Arron Afflalo, Wesley Matthews and Damian Lillard in the backcourt. It was the second time in the last three games Stotts has turned to that group to close out a game, after employing the same unit in a win over Oklahoma City last week.
“You’ve got four very good three point shooters, you’ve got a couple guys who can penetrate, you’ve got a couple perimeter guys who can post up and obviously (Aldridge) is a matchup problem in a lot of different ways,” Stotts explained.
“Offensively it can be very effective and you kind of have to pick your poison if you’re the opponent. The key to that is being able to defend.”
