Timberwolves enjoy hearty laugh at Clippers' expense
L.A. now trails Minnesota 2-0 in the season series.
LOS ANGELES — They say that he who laughs last, laughs best.
The Minnesota Timberwolves enjoyed the spoils on Monday night as they dispatched the LA Clippers by a final score of 121-100.
Then they enjoyed the laughs.
Following the game, a trio of Minnesota players and a few other members of the traveling party could be heard in the back hallways of Crypto.com Arena loudly singing together as laughs bellowed out from the group.
“Them [expletives] sorry,” one player could be heard loudly saying. “Them [expletives] old as hell.”
The age gap was there for all to see as the spry Timberwolves (37-16) powered their way to 64 points in the paint, casually waltzing their way to the lane repeatedly as the Clippers (35-17) looked on.
“I thought our physicality wasn’t there and they played better than we did,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said postgame. “Outcoached us, outplayed us and everything, so they played better than we did tonight. But I thought just the physicality and attention to detail, they were better.”
The only time the Clippers appeared poised to make their mark on the game was when L.A. went on a 10-2 run over the final 90 seconds of the second quarter to take a four-point lead into the break.
That’s where the fun ended for them.
Even after surviving an early Minnesota onslaught in the third quarter, the Clippers were a step late and not at all up to the level they needed to be on the offensive end.
“If we’re not making quick decisions, playing the game the right way, they’re going to make you look bad offensively and that’s what they did for the whole game,” Lue said following the loss.
“I thought their length bothered us. I thought us holding the ball, being stagnant really hurt us, and if we’re not going to get side-to-side and make quick decisions, they’re the number one defensive team in the league for a reason. And so, you got to make quick decisions, be smart about it and you definitely can’t turn the ball over like we did to start the third quarter.”
To Lue’s point, the Clippers turned the ball over five times in the third frame and shot just 7-for-20 from the field as they were blitzed 40-19 and saw them enter the fourth trailing by 17.
“We’ve been kind of winning off talent,” said Kawhi Leonard postgame. “When you’re playing better teams or teams are in the passing lane, those isolation shots, or those misses get louder. So like Coach was saying, we got to do a better job of listening to him and trying to execute.”
The Clippers shot just 40.5 percent overall for the night and 9-for-28 on 3s. They did get to the free throw line 26 times, but it didn’t save them as much as they probably would have liked as Minnesota used a 13-3 charity stripe advantage in the third quarter to pull away.
“They got in a bonus early and then [Anthony Edwards] was able to attack and get to the free throw line along with big [Karl-Anthony Towns],” Lue said. “They got in the bonus and [Edwards] started attacking, trying to get to the basket and got to the free throw line a lot as well.”
Kawhi Leonard and Paul George each scored 18 for the Clippers but combined to take 33 shots in the process. James Harden finished with 17 points and six assists but shot 5-for-13. Russell Westbrook scored 11 points but on 3-for-11 shooting.
In total, the four leading scorers for the Clippers on the night combined for 64 points on 57 shots.
Karl-Anthony Towns led Minnesota with 24 points in 27 minutes while Anthony Edwards finished with 23 points, eight assists, and seven rebounds, as well as an intentionally banked-in 3-pointer that drew a point to his own teammates on the bench and a raucous cheer of support.
Rudy Gobert controlled both ends of the floor, throttling the Clippers for 17 points, 10 rebounds, and four blocks as the Clippers shot just 21-for-47 (44.7 percent) in the paint.
The Clippers tried to go small to combat Gobert, but it worked to no avail. They were outscored by five points without a center on the floor during the competitive portion of the game.
“[Gobert]’s been Defensive Player of the Year a hundred times for a reason and so he’s a problem down low,” Lue said postgame. “So, just trying to draw him away from the basket, try to put him in rotations like we did late in that second half.”
The Clippers will now travel up to the Bay Area to play the Golden State Warriors (26-25). The Warriors have won five in a row and eight of their last 11.
If the Clippers want to go into the All-Star break on the right foot, they’ll need to put this bullying of a loss behind them.
And hope to get the last laugh when these two teams meet again.
This was a demoralizing loss, just proved any thought of winning a chip this year was merely an illusion.
Not gonna happen.