Chris Paul suffers broken bone in hand as Clippers fall to Blazers in Game 4

PORTLAND, Ore. — Portland Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts said repeatedly Monday he thought the Los Angeles Clippers would bring a heightened physical intensity to Game 4 of their Western Conference quarterfinals series.

He never could have predicted that the intensity would decimate the Clippers’ starting lineup.

The Clippers lost two All-Star players to injury in the second half and lost the game 98-84, sending the teams back to Los Angeles with the series tied at two games apiece.

Point guard Chris Paul broke the third metacarpal bone in his right hand when reaching in an attempt to strip a fast-breaking Gerald Henderson with 6:32 seconds left in the third quarter, and forward Blake Griffin re-aggravated a left quadriceps injury minutes later and spent the first few minutes of the fourth quarter loosening it up and being fitted with a massive ice pack.

Griffin returned to the game with 7:27 left to play and the Blazers leading 77-68, and he remained in the game but was seen favoring the leg in every deadball situation.

And there were many of those in the fourth quarter, as the Blazers — who entered the period shooting just 33.8% — got hot from the field.

Former Clippers forward Al-Farouq Aminu had made 5-of-9 three-pointers for a game-high 21 points at that point. Aminu capped the game as well as he started it, scoring nine points in the fourth on 4-of-6 shooting to finish with a game- and career-high 30. His six three-pointers Monday were two more than he had made in the series' first three games. He also became the third player in these playoffs to have a 30-point, 10-rebounds game.

"Everybody's been encouraging (Aminu), and it was just a matter of time before he had a game like that," Stotts said.

With Chris Paul likely out for playoffs, how far can Clippers go?

NBA Most Improved Player C.J. McCollum joined Aminu in giving Los Angeles another kind of icy treatment, adding 19 points on 6-of-13 shooting. And in the post, Blazers center Mason Plumlee again showed he’s at least as comfortable passing in the paint as he is scoring in it, following up a nine-assist outing in Game 3 with 10 on Monday.

Meanwhile, it’s doubtful the series’ top assist man will be seen again. Clippers coach Doc Rivers said Paul will be evaluated Tuesday, "but it obviously doesn't look very good for him." As for Griffin, Rivers said, "It doesn’t look good for him either. We'll see that tomorrow. We're not sure with Blake yet. I would say 50-50 on the next game with him. I expect him to be back, but we don't know that yet."

Earlier Monday, Rivers had been asked whether he had done any calculations on when injured Warriors All-Star guard Steph Curry would return to action (the winner of this series gets the winner of Golden State-Houston in the Western semis). Rivers said he was more concerned with McCollum and backcourt mate Damian Lillard. Now he must be concerned with his own best backcourt player.

Paul went to the Clippers’ bench for treatment after trying to slow Henderson, but by the time the Clippers called timeout with 6:07 left in the third quarter, a visibly angry Paul had stood up, kicked the air with his right leg, and headed to the Clippers’ locker room.

Los Angeles trailed the entire first half, but it would not have been close were it not for Paul. While his teammates started out the game 0-for-13 and 3-for-17 from the floor, Paul was 6-for-6. He had scored the Clippers' first 12 points and had scored 16 points with four assists at the time of the injury.

Even with the Blazers deploying 6-9 Maurice Harkless to defend against Paul, the Clippers’ nine-time All-Star has been their catalyst. He entered Game 4 with series-high averages in points (26.3) and assists (8.3) and was his team’s most effective player again Monday before his injury. His extended absence could further tilt the scales in this series.

"He's a great guard," Stotts said. "And he runs the team. He's been having an outstanding series, so they're a different team without him. But I don't think it necessarily changed what we did or wanted to do offensively or defensively.

Stephen Curry injury changes everything for playoffs

"It's 2-2. I love the energy we've had defensively over the last three games, and we have to take that to L.A. But this is the playoffs. You don't have room to exhale."

And Rivers isn't holding his breath. He doesn't expect his team too, either.

"We've been in adverse situations all year with guys out and guys coming through," he said. "And I expect us to do that at our place."

The entire Clippers team gathered in the training room after the game with Paul, whom Rivers said was taking the injury "very hard".

"There's nobody in the league, probably, who's going to replace Chris Paul," Rivers said. "And there's nobody, clearly, on our team who is going to do that. But as a group, everybody pitches in."

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