PORTLAND, Ore. _ Just when it appeared as if the Los Angeles Clippers would succumb to the moment, when it appeared as if a controversial late call would doom them, when it appeared as if an injury to Austin Rivers would spell defeat, Blake Griffin came to the rescue.
Griffin rose up and delivered a clutch, game-winning three-pointer as time expired to lift a happy group of Clippers to a 104-103 win over Portland before 18,694 stunned fans inside the Moda Center on Thursday night.
Griffin had been the man for the Clippers in the fourth quarter, scoring 16 of his 25 points in the final 12 minutes, pulling L.A. along with him in the team's first true road game of the season.
So when Clippers coach Doc Rivers had the team in the huddle with 5.1 seconds left and the Clippers down 103-101, Griffin was ready.
"I looked at Doc in the huddle and he said, 'We're going to run a pin-down for you.' I said, 'For a three!' He said, 'No, for a two.' I was like, 'Oh, yeah right,'" Griffin said, laughing. "But I just kind of took what was there. Thankfully it went in."
The Clippers had every reason to give into the circumstances in the fourth quarter when they had a free-throw opportunity pulled away from them.
Austin Rivers drove hard to the basket and crumbled to the floor after he and the Clippers were told the foul was on a Trail Blazer.
But the referees decided to look at a review of the play with 6.1 seconds left and the Clippers down 102-101.
In the meantime, Rivers was wallowing in pain on the court, having dislocated his right pinkie finger.
Clippers head athletic trainer Jasen Powell frantically tried to pull Rivers' finger out that the guard said "was to the side and then on top of my bone. It was like a staircase kind of."
"I didn't know what the hell was going on," he said. "I tried to clap my hand and I was like, 'Ah.Ah.' I just started screaming."
Rivers (16 points) assumed he was going to shoot two free throws until the officials overturned the call and gave the ball to Portland.
"Hell, yeah, I wanted to shoot them things," Rivers said. "You dream of being in those positions. Down one with five seconds left. Look, refs aren't perfect, just like we aren't. I'm not going to say anything negative about them. I thought tonight we didn't get the whistle, but there will be nights that we will and somebody else won't. It's frustrating, but we were able to play through it. We just kept our cool and Blake brought it home."
Griffin was in the hero position because CJ McCollum made just one of two free throws with 5.9 seconds left, leaving the door open for the Clippers, who were down 103-101 at this point.
"This win is big for our confidence," Griffin said. "Our first road game, especially in a place like this where the fans are into the game, they are a great team, especially at home.
"We just fought, man. We just stayed in the game. We probably had a chance to feel sorry for ourselves and hang our heads. The Austin called got overturned. You never know. That's why we work on those end-of-game-situations in practice because you never know what's going to happen."
