Portland Trail Blazers center Donovan Clingan lets out his emotions after big plays. Whether it’s a cold stare or a primal roar, the 7-foot-2 second-year big man — aptly nicknamed “Cling Kong” — feels
the moment and lets the arena know.
On Sunday afternoon at the Moda Center, Clingan was a lumbering highlight reel of big plays, stares and roars as the Blazers outlasted the Boston Celtics in a game of runs. He produced 18 points (on 8-10 shooting), 18 rebounds and an assist to help Portland bring home the 114-108 win and snap a three-game losing streak.
“He’s one of those dudes,” Blazers acting head coach Tiago Splitter said about Clingan. “Score, look at the opponent. He tried to bring some juice every time he got a good play or a block or something like that. Just to pass to the rest of the guys the energy, the belief that he has. He’s very important for our defense, for our offense, for the whole locker-room energy.”
Clingan’s energy and offense helped the Blazers wake up from a sleepy start against Boston. After the Blazers fell behind 9-1, Clingan was a huge reason why Portland ended the quarter with a 31-30 lead. He registered 11 points on 5-6 shooting and eight rebounds in the opening frame. The production included two thunderous dunks, a 3-pointer and lots of activity on the offensive glass. Offensive rebounding was an area Portland’s coaching stuff pinpointed as a potential feast for Clingan heading into the matchup. He followed the game plan by punishing Boston with seven offensive boards on the night.
Clingan’s big quarter followed a recent trend of the 21-year-old center coming more into his own on the offensive end. Clingan’s performance has improved as the season has progressed, and he’s looked freer and more aggressive on offense. He hasn’t made some quantum leap; the improvement has come in the form of small differences like looking to finish offensive rebounds around the rim more, being more willing to put the ball on the deck, and even flashing some footwork in the post. For a player who was often overeager to throw the ball out of the post during his rookie season and needed to get much stronger with the ball, the subtle changes have been important steps.
It’s all helped Clingan round into form and put up a solid stat line through the first 28 games of his first season as the Blazers’ starting center: 10.7 points, 10.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.5 blocks in 26.5 minutes per game.
“I feel like I’m definitely getting better — touch around the rim, being aggressive, being patient,” Clingan said after the win. “I feel like the 3-ball is starting to fall a little bit. But it’s just all the work I’ve put in and just starting to see things fall into place.”
I tell him every time he does a game like this,” Blazers forward Toumani Camara added. “To me, that’s the standards that I have for him. To me, he has to play like this every night, and I know he can do it, so it’s just about keep on pushing him to do so.”
While Clingan didn’t register any blocks against Boston, his presence was still felt for 34 minutes. The Blazers’ defense tightened the screws in the second half to help Portland overcome a 10-point halftime deficit. After the Celtics scored 63 points on 49% shooting in the first half, Portland held the visitors to 45 points on sub-40% shooting in the second half. Celtics star Jaylen Brown — who went berserk in the first half with 27 points and elite shotmaking — scored just 10 points on seven shots in the second half.
A lot of that defensive credit can go to Camara and others for their physicality on the perimeter, but Clingan played a big role as the backline anchor in the paint.
“He was huge,” Splitter said. “I think he was our best defensive player. Just his presence, reading every situation, talking, leading.”
“We were trapping Jaylen Brown the second half, making him get off the ball and making other guys make plays,” Clingan added. “I feel like our aggressiveness and closeouts, not letting shooters get off clean shots, I feel like that was a big part of [the second-half improvement].”
The Blazers defended better in the second half. They took much better care of the ball, registering just four turnovers after coughing it up 17 times in the first half. They even shot better from long distance than Boston’s vaunted 3-point attack, cashing in five more 3-pointers on the night.
Outside of Clingan, the Blazers had key individual performances throughout the roster. Shaedon Sharpe and Deni Avdija scored 26 points and 24 points, respectively, while both shooting 50%. Forward Toumani Camara complemented his dogged defense with 20 points on 50% shooting and several 3-pointers. Reserve guard Caleb Love provided a spark, hitting four 3-pointers — which Mike Richman of local podcasting fame has earmarked as a stat that will always lead to a Blazers win.
Still, the Blazers were locked into a one-possession battle in the final five minutes. Bad memories of blown crunch-time performances and heartbreaking losses crept into the collective conscience. That’s when Clingan came through for the game’s most pivotal play.
With the Blazers clinging to a 109-108 lead with under 30 seconds remaining, Avdija put up a step-back 3 over Derrick White. The shot came off the front end, but there was Clingan, banging deep in the paint. The 7-footer collected the rebound over 6-foot-6 rookie Hugo Gonzalez, making the Celtics pay for choosing to play small down the stretch. Then he banked in the put-back while getting fouled by Gonzalez with 22.4 seconds left.
After the layup, before Clingan would make the free throw to put the Blazers up four points and effectively win the game, he swaggered over to the right baseline and roared one more time. On the postgame podium, he talked about where that emotion comes from:
“I just love winning so much that when the energy is high and big plays are made, I leave it all out there.”
