LOS ANGELES — The Clippers left the regular season's penultimate day with the same answer applying to their three most pressing questions.
Will they avoid the NBA's play-in tournament? If so, could injured All-Star wing Paul George return for a first-round series?
And no matter where they end up, will their defense show up?
All of it is still to be determined.
After beating Portland, 136-125, on Saturday afternoon at Crypto.com Arena, the Clippers continue to control how high they could finish in the standings. The victory assured them a top-seven finish, and if they win Sunday's regular-season finale in Phoenix they will assure themselves the fifth seed and a first-round series that would begin on the road next weekend against those same fourth-seeded Suns.
Kawhi Leonard scored 27 points, with eight rebounds and four assists, and Norman Powell scored 23 off the bench in the win Saturday. Both attempted at least 10 free throws, using Portland's youth against it to draw fouls. In the win the Clippers accomplished something key — none of their starters played more than 29 minutes. That keeps them fresher to accomplish their next mission: ending their regular season with a win Sunday.
To anyone wondering whether the Clippers will use gamesmanship Sunday in an attempt to maneuver their way to the sixth seed, and a first-round matchup against Sacramento, all indications point to no. The possibilities of falling to seventh, and the play-in tournament, are too great with a loss. Coach Tyronn Lue's only thought entering the final weekend was to win both games. In a related development, Lue believes in basketball karma.
"I mean if you don't treat the game right, basketball gods will make you pay for it," he said before Saturday's tipoff.
Yet in trying to tune up for a first round against Kevin Durant, Chris Paul and Devin Booker, the Clippers' defense showed its frailty while struggling to contain Kevin Knox (30 points), Shaedon Sharpe (26 points) and Trendon Watford (24 points). Weeks after shutting down its best players, apparently intent on securing the best draft lottery odds than a playoff berth, Portland's grab-bag assortment of starters had scored 70 points by halftime.
The Clippers answered with 45 points in the third quarter, the most they scored in any quarter this season, to build a lead that grew to 19 in the second half. But with Lue using the fourth quarter to rest his starters, the punchy Trail Blazers were still within a mildly uncomfortable 11 points with two minutes to play.
The Clippers sleepwalked into a 10-point deficit, didn't make a 3-pointer for 13 minutes and trailed by six at halftime. Watford and Sharpe outscored Clippers starters by themselves, 39-37.
The combination of a 1 p.m. tipoff, and an aging Clippers roster facing a roster of young, striving prospects, produced a malaise that had been feared. Eric Gordon looked out of sync, like a player whose right hip had kept him from practicing recently. Portland ran back for 11 fast-break points; the Clippers managed two. A promising second-quarter stretch built around Clippers reserve wings Terance Mann and Bones Hyland was the only thing keeping them from trailing by more than six at halftime.
As if suddenly realizing the play-in tournament was still very much a postseason possibility, the Clippers opened the second half with a 16-2 run as the previously quiet Gordon and Nicolas Batum began to make shots. So did Leonard, whose 13 points in the quarter helped assert control.
