Blake Griffin has some words with Damian Lillard as Chris Paul looks on. (Photo : Getty Images/Steve Dykes)
The Portland Trail Blazers are now the favorites to advance to the second round after the Los Angeles Clippers were decimated by injuries in Game 4. The Clippers lost Chris Paul and Blake Griffin to injury for the rest of the playoffs.
The Blazers tied the series on April 25, Monday with a 98-84 win over the Clippers at the Moda Center in Portland. Al-Farooq Aminu led Rip City by scoring a career-high 30 points with 10 rebounds, three assists and three blocks.
Damian Lillard struggled from the field but the rest of the team picked up the slack to get the much-needed win. On the other hand, the Clippers received very bad news after Game 4 as two of their best players suffered season-ending injuries.
According to Yahoo! Sports, Paul is out indefinitely following surgery to repair his broken hand. He sustained the injury in the third quarter of Game 4 with X-Rays showing that he fractured his third metacarpal bone.
Griffin also re-aggravated his quadriceps injury in Game 4 and was ruled out for the entire postseason. It is the same injury that kept him out for most of the regular season. It is very unfortunate for the Clippers but the Blazers are not going to change anything despite having the advantage heading into Game 5.
"It's not like they have guys who can't play. They still have a really good team. Our mindset has to be, nothing changes. We have to have the same approach defensively and continue to trust each other offensively," Lillard said in an interview.
The Clippers managed to stay afloat in the regular season even without Griffin, but losing Paul is a very different situation. The 30-year-old is arguably their best player who makes everyone around him better.
According to CBS Sports, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers will now have to rely on players like DeAndre Jordan, Jeff Green, Jamal Crawford, J.J. Redick and Paul Pierce to stay alive in the playoffs. They also have unproven players including Austin Rivers and Cole Aldrich who need to step up big time.
Game 5 of this first-round matchup will be on April 27, Wednesday at the Staples Center. Check out the video below for the highlights of Game 4 between the Clippers and Blazers.
