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Minnesota Timberwolves: Griffin, Paul lead Clippers past Wolves

By Drew Mahowald

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After assembling a three-game win streak this past week, the Minnesota Timberwolves ran into a much more talented and experienced basketball team at Staples Center on Sunday, and their winning streak was snapped.

The Los Angeles Clippers, despite their 8-8 record going into the game, are still regarded as one of the powerhouses in the Western Conference and it showed in their 107-99 victory over the Wolves this afternoon.

Blake Griffin and Chris Paul both played like their All-Star selves, scoring 17 of L.A.’s final 23 points down the stretch to seal the win. Overall, Griffin tallied 26 points (9/16 FG, 1/1 3pt FG, 7/9 FT), 8 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 blocks while Paul recorded 20 points (7/12 FG, 6/6 FT) and 9 assists. J.J. Redick added 18 points for the Clippers.

For what seems like the 132nd straight game, Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine were Minnesota’s leading scorers tonight netting 21 points (7/15 FG, 2/4 3pt FG, 5/7 FT) and 18 points (6/15 FG, 3/5 3pt FG, 3/3 FT) respectively. Wiggins has now scored 20 or more points in 10 of his last 12 games, and is averaging 23.1 per game over the last 10 games. LaVine, not to be too far outdone, as scored in double-digits in 12 straight games and is averaging 17.8 per game over the last 10.

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Karl-Anthony Towns was able to hold his own in his first career game against the frontcourt combination of Griffin and DeAndre Jordan, as he put up 17 points on 8 of 13 shooting and grabbed 8 rebounds. Once again, there were some issues with his minutes in the fourth quarter, or lack thereof, which I’ll address in the game notes/observations.

Overall, Ricky Rubio inactive, it was tough to expect the Wolves to take down the Clippers at Staples Center, even considering their prior winning streak. They didn’t get out of the gate like they usually do (only 37 points in the first half), and it cost them. As the team continues to grow, I expect to see fewer of these rough starts to begin games.

Notes/Observations

  • I usually rave about Wiggins and/or LaVine and how rapidly they’re developing, but I’ll save you the time. Basically, they are both ahead of schedule.
  • It was good to have Nemanja Bjelica back in the rotation for the Wolves after his short absence. He registered 22 minutes and did contribute 10 points on 4 of 4 shooting, including 2 of 2 from deep. Bjelica back means less of Adreian Payne on the court, which I promise you is a very good thing.

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  • I’ll continue with my thought on Payne here because it feels necessary. In his 8 minutes of action, he was terrible, awful, horrible, dreadful, etc. His +/- rating of -15 was eight points worse than the next player. And that’s just 8 minutes.
  • Gorgui Dieng continues to play well. He recorded his second double-double in three games, and he’s definitely earning playing time. There’s been a lot of complaining about Towns’ minutes in the fourth quarter being taken by Dieng (and I’m a part of that complaining), but I have a solution. Play both of them. In the small amount of time they were on the court together tonight, they were solid. I really think they complement each other well as a duo.
  • Kevin Martin needs to get it going, plain and simple. Otherwise, he might find himself coming off the bench once again.

Onward

The Minnesota Timberwolves will now head back to the Twin Cities for a four-game homestand beginning with the Orlando Magic coming to town on Tuesday night.

Next: RECAP: Wolves dethrone Kings, 101-91

As always, continue to check with Sporting Sota for news and analysis on the Minnesota Timberwolves and all of your favorite Minnesota teams.

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