Chris Paul scored 41 points in Wednesday’s 126-122 victory at Portland/Photo by Don Ryan, Associated Press

There is a chance the Clippers (50-26) and Portland Trail Blazers (48-26) will play each other in the first round of the playoffs. That could be a very good thing for the Clippers, who defeated Portland 126-122 on Wednesday night at Portland after trailing by 19 points midway through the second quarter. The Clippers won the season series 3-1 over Portland, with no margin of victory by either team more than six points.

Portland coach Terry Stotts therefore admitted that Wednesday’s loss was indeed a bummer.

“Look, you hate losing games,” he said. “You hate losing at home and you hate losing to a team that you might see in the playoffs. There’s a lot of things not to be happy about tonight. But we were very competitive, as were they. All four games with the Clippers have come down to the last couple minutes. That’s part of the NBA. You don’t like dropping games at home, but sometimes you do.”