On a night when the average NBA team scored more than 119 points, the Timberwolves and Clippers mucked it up in a shooter’s nightmare at Crypto Arena in Los Angeles and it was the home team coming away with an 99-88 victory over the Wolves, who were without D’Angelo Russell (knee), Karl-Anthony Towns (calf), Jordan McLaughlin (calf) and Taurean Prince (shoulder).
The laundry list of banged up players resulted in a starting lineup of Austin Rivers, Anthony Edwards, Kyle Anderson, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert against a Clippers lineup with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George both healthy.
The loss that drops the Timberwolves to 13-15 this season. Fortunately, few teams in the West are pulling away and Minnesota is only three games behind Portland and Phoenix (both 16-12) for the fourth and fifth spots in the conference.
The Wolves led the defensive battle at 43-38 at the half and only trailed by two heading into the fourth, 71-69. But the Clippers went on a 13-4 run to bust open the lead to as many as 17 points, never looking back and sending Minnesota to its third straight loss.
Edwards was double-teamed heavily throughout the game but was able to lead the Wolves in scoring with 19 points. He shot 2-of-7 from 3 and and Minnesota was just 4-of-22 from deep as a team.
Rivers failed to impress in a rare start, scoring five points on 1-of-7 shooting while failing to grab a rebound in 29 minutes of action.
The Wolves finish up their five-game road trip Friday in Oklahoma City.
