LOS ANGELES — Chris Paul scored 25 points, J.J. Redick added 17 and the Los Angeles Clippers pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 102-81 Wednesday night and take a 2-0 lead in their first-round
LOS ANGELES — Chris Paul scored 25 points, J.J. Redick added 17 and the Los Angeles Clippers pulled away in the fourth quarter to beat the Portland Trail Blazers 102-81 Wednesday night and take a 2-0 lead in their first-round playoff series.
Damian Lillard and Mason Plumlee led the Blazers with 17 points each. CJ McCollum added 16 after being held to nine in their 20-point loss in the series opener. Plumlee and Al-Farouq Aminu had 10 rebounds each. Portland shot a season-worst 34.1 percent.
Game 3 is Saturday in Portland.
Blake Griffin had 12 points and nine rebounds and DeAndre Jordan had 18 rebounds for the Clippers, who shot 46 percent and topped 100 points for the second straight game.
The Clippers’ bench put the game out of reach in the fourth, stretching a six-point lead to 16 before Redick, Paul and Griffin returned with 7:38 to play. Griffin made his presence felt immediately with a monstrous cutting dunk that roused the crowd.
Los Angeles’ reserves opened the fourth on a 14-4 run. McCollum’s struggles in that stretch were emblematic of the entire game. He turned the ball over and missed a 3-pointer while the Clippers kept converting at their end. Wesley Johnson grabbed an offensive rebound and hit a turnaround jumper, Austin Rivers hit a 3-pointer and Jamal Crawford benefited from a goaltending call.
The Blazers’ only lead came on the game’s opening basket. They got better production from McCollum (nine points in Game 1) and Plumlee (four points, five rebounds and no assists in Game 1), but were doomed by their shooting.
HEAT 115, HORNETS 103
MIAMI (AP) — Dwyane Wade had 28 points and eight assists, Hassan Whiteside made all eight of his shots and finished with 17 points, and Miami beat Charlotte to take a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference first-round series.
Goran Dragic scored 18 points, Luol Deng had 16, Josh Richardson finished with 15 and Whiteside grabbed 13 rebounds for Miami.
Kemba Walker scored 29 points for Charlotte, needing 29 shots to get there. Al Jefferson had 25 on 12-for-17 shooting off the bench, and Jeremy Lin added 11 for Charlotte — which has dropped 12 straight postseason contests.
It was the 100th 20-point game of Wade’s playoff career. The Heat are 64-36 in those games.
Game 3 is Saturday in Charlotte.
