Trail Blazers believe they match up with Clippers despite blowout loss in Game 1 of series

Portland was beaten on both sides of the ball and they suffered a 20-point loss at the hands of the Clippers Sunday night in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series.

But on Monday when the Trail Blazers gathered at their hotel in Marina Del Rey for a media session, point guard Damian Lillard said he and his teammates came to the conclusion that “the game wasn’t as bad as the score said it was.�

Essentially, the Trail Blazers remain confident about their chances against the Clippers despite losing the opener in the best-of-seven series. Game 2 is Wednesday night, also at Staples Center, where Portland hasn’t won a game this season.

“They played as good of a game as they have played in a while,� Lillard said of the Clippers. “We’ve just got to understand that the things we saw on film, we clean up some of those things, offensively and defensively, then we’ll have a chance. We know that we’ll have a chance.�

Portland says it got enough open shots during the game, and so the Trail Blazers hope they won’t shoot 39.8% from the field, or 33.3% (10 for 30) from three-point range as they did in Game 1.

The Clippers focused their defense on Lillard and his backcourt mate, C.J. McCollum, trapping both guards whenever possible, forcing six turnovers combined by Lillard and McCollum.

McCollum, the likely winner of the NBA’s most-improved-player award, also had a difficult shooting night. He scored just nine points on three-for-11 shooting and was one for five on three-pointers.

After the Trail Blazers arrived back at their hotel Sunday night, Lillard and McCollum texted each other.

“Even more so than the regular season, they were like at half court trapping us,� Lillard said. “They were physical. They were out there. They were ready.

“But I just told [McCollum] there’s no excuses for myself or for him. We’ve got to still keep attacking. We’ve got to do a better job passing the ball out, just see situations quicker and we still got to be aggressive and attack and shoot the ball.�

This was a breakout season for McCollum, his scoring average jumping from 6.8 points per game last season to 20.8 this season. His three-point shooting improved from 39.6% during the 2014-15 season to 41.7% this season, ninth-best in the NBA.

But then the playoffs started and McCollum was out of sorts in the first game.

“I don’t think I played very well offensively,� McCollum said. “I didn’t shoot particularly well. They did a good job of trapping and kind of forcing the ball out of Damian and my hands.�

The Clippers also put their best wing defender on McCollum, 6-foot-8 forward Luc Mbah a Moute.

It seemed to work.

“I figured he would be guarding me,� said the 6-4 McCollum. “He’s not the problem. It’s the traps. DeAndre Jordan and those other guys coming up, they make the game a little bit more difficult. They cover up some more angles. They do a great job of kind of zoning up off the ball. It’s a team effort and they’re doing a pretty good job.�

Twitter: @BA_Turner