The Portland Trail Blazers outlasted the LA Clippers on the road Wednesday night in an up-and-down game for both teams. When the smoke cleared at crunch time, the Blazers were winners, 106-105.

Portland guard Anfernee Simons led the Blazers in scoring with 25 points on 10-24 shooting and six assists. Fellow guard Scoot Henderson led a young man revolution that played fast and turned the momentum back Portland’s way after a bloodless start. Henderson produced 14 points on 5-8 shooting (2-3 from deep), six assists, three rebounds and a steal in 24 minutes, marking another strong, controlled performance in his early-season catalog. Blazers starting center Deandre Ayton also contributed 15 points, 12 rebounds and a crucial offensive rebound late that he converted into a hard hook shot.

On the Clippers side, former Blazers guard Norman Powell led all scorers with 30. Star guard James Harden added 19 on 6-18 shooting — we’ll call that tough shooting night the Toumani Effect.

Now that the formalities are out of the way, we can talk about how it all turned out in the conclusions of Wednesday night’s thriller in Tinsel Town.

A wave of the young boys

The Blazers came out of the gate in LA listless and cold. The Clippers took an early 8-0 lead as Portland went 1-8 from the field. Fears began to mount that the Blazers might be in for a long night on the road — at least in the Blazer’s Edge Slack chat. When Henderson checked in at the 7:37 mark with Portland down 10-4, the momentum of the game began to shift. Henderson scored seven points in the first quarter and led a flurry of activity and production from Portland’s younger players that turned the game around.

Kris Murray added great defense, rebounding and a first-quarter buzzer-beater that beat a tip-in. He also hit a respectable 1-2 on the long distance. Donovan Clingan made an impact in the court with that size. Both Toumani Camara and Jabari Walker offered their usual hustle and disruption (Rayan Rupert also came to the party late with a 7-0 run of his own in the fourth quarter). Among the young boys, the Blazers played faster, moved the ball with more pop and got more floor burns diving for loose balls. Once the starters started to find their rhythm, that early 8-0 deficit turned into a 54-43 Blazers lead late in the second half.

That trend continued in the second half. When the Clippers took the lead, going up by as many as nine in the third quarter and again by nine early in the fourth, it was Henderson and the younger second unit who led Portland’s offense back into the game.

Crunch-Time Violation

With the game still close as winning time approached, Portland head coach Chauncey Billups turned the keys back to the older starting lineup. This meant putting the ball in Simons’ hands at the top of the key and letting it shoot or play on screens. The plan started off fantastically. Simons scored seven straight points to give Portland a 104-103 lead with 2:44 remaining. Then things came to a standstill. Simons missed his last three shots – one 3 and two straight drives – although the missed 3 was saved by an ugly but effective putback from Ayton in a straitjacket of Clippers defenders. With less than 30 seconds to play and Portland protecting a one-point lead, Simons worked from the top of the key to deliver a pass to Ayton in the corner for 3. Ayton was open, having been there before one hit, and (I won’t lie) it seemed pretty clean out of his hands, but it didn’t fall. I’m curious to see what Billups thought of the last few looks Portland got, but they left a lot to be desired.

Despite poor execution late in the game, Portland redeemed itself with great defense, aided by missed Clippers free throws. The Blazers turned Harden on one play with a double team. On another play, Deni Avdija had a crucial chase block on Powell with 30 seconds left. Then Ayton intercepted a pass intended for Ivica Zubac deep in the paint on LA’s final possession. It didn’t always look pretty, but the Blazers somehow managed to pull out the win.

The little things

The Blazers fought back several times in this game and deserve a compliment for that. They really haven’t made it easy for themselves. Over the course of a 48-minute basketball game, this Blazers team is beset by a growing number of small mistakes that will make you want to pull your hair out. They are not important! It’s just the little things, and they come in a varied package: bizarre turnovers, slightly off-kilter passes that throw shooters out of rhythm, missed layups, leaving good shooters wide open in zone defense, giving up a 7-0 run with still about a minute to go in the first half. This game takes place in an interesting space, where I feel like both the Blazers and Clippers should have won by 10.

Norman Powell, the former blower/blazer killer

When I talked about the Blazers leaving good shooters open in that last section, Powell was normally the guy who played the lead role in that open shooter role. The former Blazer torched his old team by going 5-10 deep on his way to thirty. He also executed his usual ‘Stormin’ Norman’ attacks on the rack, leading 11-22 from the field overall. He was the only Clipper to score above 20 points. LA ended up coughing up this game, but it wasn’t because of Powell.

Clingan vs. Kai Jones’ speed

Clingan did a number of things well in his eleven minutes of action. He provided a lift on the offensive glass (six rebounds, three offensive), had a block and a steal, finished several buckets low and even buried a much-needed 3 in the fourth quarter. However, Clippers backup center Kai Jones gave the rookie some problems. Jones is a 6-foot-4 athletic demon who makes his NBA living by flying around the floor. That’s a tough cover for a great rim protector like Clingan, especially five games into his career.

Defending without fouling is something Clingan has done very well early on for a rookie center, but Jones’ quick activity was a big reason why Clingan picked up three fouls in the first quarter. On the third whistle, Jones caught Clingan flat-footed on the three-point line and burned him for an and-1 dunk. Clingan executed the assignment better in the second half, picking up just one foul in his limited second-half minutes. Watching how Clingan handles faster centers will be an interesting development to watch throughout his career.

Next

Box score

The Blazers are back at the Moda Center on Friday night to take on the Oklahoma City Thunder. Tipoff is scheduled for just after 7:00 PM PST.