The LA Clippers had a few unlikely heroes in their 122-117 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
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00:00Going into Saturday's contest of the Portland Trail Blazers, few expected the LA Clippers to come out on top.
00:05Down to three key players in Kawhi Leonard, Patrick Beverley, and Montrezl Harrell, the odds were seemingly stacked against them.
00:11In fact, it was almost more favorable for the Clippers to lose than it was to win.
00:16A win for the Blazers would have put them in better position to contend for the Western Conference's final seed, and that, in turn,
00:21could mean the Los Angeles Lakers would have a tougher first-round opponent in Portland.
00:24None of that ended up mattering, though, because rather than conceding to the Blazers, the Clippers had one of their most
00:29well-rounded offense performances of the season, and pulled away late to win 122-117.
00:34The Blazers were in control of the majority of the game,
00:37but the Clippers mounted an impressive comeback in the final minutes that swung things in their direction.
00:41After Portland took a 115-110 lead with two minutes and 58 seconds to go in the fourth quarter,
00:46LA, with Terence Mann, Rodney Magruder, Landry Schammett, Patrick Patterson, and Jamel Green on the floor against the Blazers' starters,
00:54mounted a 12-2 run.
00:56Magruder delivered the final dagger, drilling a game-winning three with less than 27 seconds on the clock.
01:02Six of LA's ten active players scored double figures, while three others recorded at least seven points.
01:08Schammett, who struggled to get his shot going in the bubble so far,
01:11finished with 19 points on 12 attempts on the floor. After the game, he said,
01:15quote,
01:24The Laws pushed Portland one and a half games back in the Memphis Grizzlies' number-eight seed, and kept teams like the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans
01:30Pelicans very much alive in the hunt for number nine.
01:33Head coach, Dr. Rivers, was asked after the game if he pays attention to the situation,
01:36near the bottom of Winslow-Carver's playoff standings, and quickly gave his stance on that, saying, quote,
01:40Yeah, that's not a problem. We said that before the game. It's a competition.
01:44It always is, it always will be, and I want our guys feeling that way.
01:48Beverly and Harrell will likely remain out of the Clippers' contest to Brooklyn Nets on Sunday,
01:52but Leonard and Beck will line up after missing today's first leg of back-to-back.