In a game of runs, the Los Angeles Clippers ended up on the wrong side of a wild finish against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
After 14 ties and 10 lead changes, the Wolves closed the game on a 10-4 run in the final minute to swipe a 108-102 victory from The Truth and Co. at the Staples Center, snapping their four-game win streak.
Paul logged some heavy minutes around the new year, but his work load has been tapered back of late. No. 34 started again with Blake Griffin still out of commission, but he logged just 16:46 on the floor and totaled three points, five assists and two rebounds. The idea is for the 18-year veteran is to be fresh for the postseason, as he explained this week.
“That’s where I feel my value is going to be felt the most,” The Truth said earlier this week.
No. 34 was valuable in getting things started for the Clippers, tying the game at five with a triple, but was held quiet the remainder of the contest. The game teetered back and forth throughout. Six lead changes came in the first quarter alone, which ended in a 27-all tie.
The Clips grabbed the lead early in the second quarter and clung to a small cushion throughout. The Wolves came back to deadlock the game at 46, when The Truth triggered a key run. Paul fed it to DeAndre Jordan for the flush, then dished to Chris Paul on a trifecta as part of a 7-0 surge, with 2:25 remaining in the half.
But Minnesota matched the run on a pair of LAC turnovers to tie it back at 53 with 19.9 seconds to go. The Wolves scored 24 points off the Clippers’ 13 giveaways, while LAC scored 21 off Minnesota’s 16. L.A. took a 55-53 lead into the locker room.
No. 34 found Jordan for another alley-oop dunk to make it a four-point L.A. lead early in the third, but the Timberwolves responded with 14 unanswered to take their largest lead, 69-59, midway through the frame.
Wesley Johnson stopped the bleeding with a three-pointer, scoring seven points in the Clippers’ 15-7 run to end the quarter to make it just a two-point game, 76-74, going into the fourth.
The final frame was more of the same: the teams exchanged flurries of unanswered points before LAC’s 8-0 run tied it at 96 with two minutes remaining. But Andrew Wiggins scored his game-high 31st point to give Minnesota a lead it would not relinquish, 100-98. A controversial technical foul call on Chris Paul coupled with a costly turnover secured the Clippers’ fate in the final minute of playing time. But Los Angeles wasn’t using that play as an excuse for its defeat.
“The officials didn’t have anything to do with the way we played,” said Jordan, who recorded a double-double with 18 points and 15 boards. “We didn’t come out with the right mindset and the right spirit. That’s why we lost this ball game. If we come out and not play a team’s record but play basketball, then we win this game.”
The Timberwolves (15-36) snapped a five-game skid, as well as a 14-game losing streak to the Clippers.
In addition to Wiggins’ second-straight 30-plus point game, Karl-Anthony Towns and Zach LaVine scored 17 points apiece. Leading the way for the Clippers, CP3 tallied a team-high 22 points and eights assists, while Jamal Crawford finished with 21 points off the bench.
NEXT UP
The Los Angeles Clippers (32-17) will hit the East Coast for stops in Orlando (21-27), Miami (28-22), Philadelphia (7-42) and Boston (29-22) before the All-Star Break.
The Clips will first face the Magic in the Amway Center on Friday at 4 p.m. PT.
LAC will be looking to sweep the series, 2-0, after rallying from a 12-point, fourth-quarter deficit for a 103-101 win Dec. 5. Nikola Vucevic has been solid for the Magic, leading the team in points (16.7), rebounds (8.8) and blocks (1.2) per contest.
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