They say that familiarity breeds contempt, so in that regard, it's not surprising that Thursday night's game between the Trail Blazers and Clippers at the Moda Center ended up being a rather ill-tempered affair. Though they met during the preseason, Thursday's game was the first time the two teams faced off in a game that counted since the Trail Blazers defeated the Clippers in six games during the first round of the 2016 Western Conference playoffs.
"With preseason, the season and the playoffs we’ve played them like 12 or 13 times in the last year, feel like they’re related to us," said Mason Plumlee, who was called for technical foul after getting into a shoving match with DeAndre Jordan and a flagrant foul for elbowing Blake Griffin in the back.