After a short break for Thanksgiving, the Minnesota Timberwolves were right back in action Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Wolves came into the game having lost seven of their last night game including their current four-game losing streaks.
Before the game, Wolves coach Chris Finch spoke to the media about how far away his team is from getting back to being a winning basketball team again.
“Looking at it, we’re not a million miles away from where we wanna be, where we need to be. We’ve gotta avoid putting ourselves in the holes that we’re putting ourselves in with periods of play, for sure. But we make these great fightbacks. Give ourselves a chance to win. We should be finishing these games better. And you know, a team that is a team that’s truly sick to the core, they don’t make those fightbacks. So there’s positive to take from that.”
Battling back after poor play early in games has been one of the lone bright spots for the Wolves, but they looked to break the recent pattern of falling down, coming back, and then coming up short with inconsistent play late in the game.
The Clippers were without two of their better players, Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell. They were replaced in the lineup by two names Wolves fans might recognize, former Timberwolf Kris Dunn, and former Minnesota Golden Gophers star Amir Coffey.
The Wolves got off to a good start, taking an early eight point lead including 3-pointers from four of the Wolves five starters. The solid run of offense would be short lived as the Wolves would go scoreless for a nearly four-minutes stretch, allowing the Clippers to cut the Wolves lead to just one at the end of the first quarter.
After LA took a one-point lead early in the second quarter, Nickeil Alexander-Walker would pull the Wolves out of the mud, scoring seven quick points along with a pretty assist to Rudy Gobert to put the Wolves up by 11.
Nine first-half turnovers by the Wolves would prevent them from building a larger lead, but the Wolves would lead 53-47 at the half.
The turnovers would continue to start the second half as Minnesota would commit five turnovers in less than three minutes, brining their total up to 14, two shy of passing their season average of 15.7 per game.
With the Wolves up by only three points, Edwards would begin to heat up, making back-to-back 3-pointers to push the Wolves lead up to nine.
The Wolves would turn it over three more times down the stretch of the third quarter, including going scoreless over the last three and a half minutes. After being down by as many as 11, the Clippers trimmed the Wolves lead to 72-68 at the end of three quarters.
Nicolas Batum, who has often been a thorn in Minnesota’s side, would hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter giving him four for the game and tying the game at 80-80.
With the game offense struggling to find an effective shot, Donte DiVincenzo hit long-range bomb from off the glass, giving the Wolves the lead back.
The Wolves would build the lead to as high as seven, but the Clippers, as they did all game, fought right back, going on a 10-0 run including an and-1 3-pointer from James Harden giving them a 90-87 lead with four minutes left.
Unlike many previous performances, the Wolves did not crumble down the stretch, holding the Clippers to just two points the rest of the game, allowing an Edwards 5-0 run to give them the lead.
With the Wolves up one, a crazy sequence ensued where the Clippers elected not to foul to give themselves the ball back. The Wolves took advantage by securing two offensive rebounds to run out the remainder of the clock.
By the skin of their teeth, the Timberwolves secured a 93-92 victory over the Clippers, snapping their four-game losing streak.
Edwards led the way for Minnesota with 21 points, four rebounds and three assists. Gobert, who played nearly 43 minutes, scored eight points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and was dominant defensively in the paint. Harden scored 20 points with the Wolves making him work for all of those points. He finished 7-20 from the field including three 3-pointers.
This story will be updated throughout the night after coach and player media availabilities.
Up Next
The Timberwolves finish their four-game homestand with a matchup with the other team Tinseltown, the Los Angeles Lakers. The game begins at 7:00 PM CT with fans being able to watch the game on FanDuel Sports Network North and NBA TV.
Following that game, the Wolves head out on a California road trip including another matchup with the Clippers at the new Intuit Dome. They close out the road trip with two games against the Golden State Warriors.
