Trail Blazers beat depleted Clippers, 108-98, take 3-2 lead

Staples Center appeared about half full for tipoff of the Clippers’ playoff game Wednesday night, a starting time 30 minutes earlier than normal largely to blame.

There were also large pockets of vacant seats by the end of what might be their final home game of the season.

Half empty was a theme that kept popping up for the Clippers without Chris Paul and Blake Griffin.

The Clippers ran in lockstep with the Portland Trail Blazers for three quarters before sagging during the balance of a 108-98 loss in Game 5 of their first-round series.

“Fatigue had a lot to do with it,” said Clippers guard Austin Rivers, who scored 13 points in 37 minutes. “A lot of our guys were tired.”

A Clippers’ season on the brink could end with another defeat in Game 6 on Friday night at the Moda Center in Portland. The Trail Blazers have seized control of the series with three consecutive victories after dropping the first two games.

Fans from the sellout crowd started filing out after Damian Lillard’s three-pointer rolled into the basket with 4:13 left, giving Portland a 102-86 lead. There were groans after Lillard banked in another three-pointer that helped the Trail Blazers outscore the Clippers, 37-27, in the fourth quarter.

“We lost our spirit a little bit in one stretch when they started making just great shots, which we can live with,” Clippers Coach Doc Rivers said, “but I just thought it was our endurance.”

Jamal Crawford played 44 minutes as part of a revamped starting lineup that featured three guards but predictably looked like five players who had barely spent any time on the court together. Paul Pierce airballed a turnaround jumper and threw some poorly timed lobs that went for turnovers, going scoreless in nine minutes.

Clippers center DeAndre Jordan was strong across the board with 16 points, 17 rebounds and even made six of 11 free throws in only his fourth career game without Paul and Griffin. Crawford scored 17 points but made only six of 23 shots.

“Honestly, I hope I get the exact same shots,” Crawford said. “Those are shots I’ve made all year.”

The score was tied heading into the fourth quarter even though the Clippers were without Griffin (quadriceps) and Paul (broken finger), depriving them of an average of 38.8 points, 12.8 rebounds and 9.3 assists of production from the previous four playoff games.

Paul sat on the bench and Griffin watched from the locker room after undergoing a procedure on his quadriceps. Both spoke with the team at various points.

The Clippers’ defense went missing in the fourth quarter, when Lillard scored 16 of his 22 points. Portland’s C.J. McCollum was also a late force with nine of his 27 points in the fourth quarter, many coming on uncontested shots.

“There was three times on switches when Lillard or McCollum were wide open,” Doc Rivers said. “Clearly we did something wrong defensively, and it was communication. You know, those should never happen.”

The Clippers’ 50-45 halftime lead dissolved amid some unsettling symmetry: They started the third quarter going 0 for 10 from the field and the Trail Blazers went on a 10-0 run.

Rivers compared the sequence to his team’s collapse in Game 5 of the Western Conference semifinals in 2014 against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

“We were exhausted,” Rivers said. “I had to call two timeouts. You could just see it. That’s not conditioning. That’s emotion.”

Crawford finally broke the drought with a three-pointer with 5:49 left in the quarter, and the Clippers wiped out a 71-62 deficit with a 9-0 run sparked by Jeff Green’s dunk and three-pointer.

There were some tears in the interview room before the game when Doc Rivers was asked whom he leaned on in such difficult times. Rivers choked up, saying the question reminded him of his mother Bettye, who died last summer.

Somehow, the Clippers said they still harbored belief going back to Portland.

“We have full confidence. We really do,” Crawford said. “We’re very confident that we’ll get it done and be back here Game 7.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com

Twitter: @latbbolch

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