The Clippers’ started slow but ended strong, emerging from a slow, awful shooting contest against the Wolves thanks to a great 4th quarter. Keep reading for a full recap of the Clippers’ win over the Timberwolves.
Summary
The Clippers started off the game about as badly as possible, bricking just about every attempt they took. Fortunately, decent defense and Wolves’ sloppiness kept them in it, as they trailed just 10-4 at the halfway mark of the period despite being 2-13 from the field. At that point, the bench started trickling in, starting with Nico for Kawhi (who had two fouls), then Luke. The Clippers finally got untracked from three, with PG burying a couple, and they fought their way back to down just a couple as it was the Wolves turn to go icy cold. Mann and Covington completed the bench + PG lineup, and featured a beautiful offensive possession with PG swinging a pass to RoCo, who drove into the paint and found Mann for a dunk with a nice bounce pass. When the dust settled, the Clips trailed by just two despite scoring a mere 19 points.
Reggie checked in for George, and a Luke three put the Clippers ahead briefly. However, the lead was very short-lived. Neither team could string together much offensive flow, with a combination of good defense, ugly missed shots, and sloppy turnovers resulting in very few points. The scoring got going a bit as the starters checked in, but not much, with cleaner offense and wide open catch and shoot threes still resulting in bricks. The Wolves were just slightly better than the Clippers, with the result that they had a five point edge at halftime.
Fun Halftime Notes
- Clippers shot 13-48 from the field in the first half, 27.1%
- The Clippers shot 5-25 from three, 20%
- The Clippers had 8 turnovers to 5 assists, the Wolves had 8 turnovers to 8 assists
- Only one Clipper made more than two shots, Kawhi Leonard (4-11, 1-4 from three)
- Paul George and Anthony Edwards were the only players in double figures, with 10 points apiece
The Clippers started off small with Nico instead of Zu in an effort to juice their offense a bit. While Nico made a 3 and a layup early, the Clippers’ offense remained moribund, as they scored just 7 points in the first 5+ mins of the quarter. Again though, the Wolves only scored eight, with both teams combining for more bricks and turnovers. At that point, the Clippers went on a 13-3 run, gaining a four-point lead largely through Marcus Morris and Reggie Jackson getting going on offense. Terance and Zu checked in for Kawhi and Reggie at around the 4 minute mark, and then Luke and RoCo for Nico and Morris at the 2 minute mark. The Wolves briefly retook the lead behind a few midrange jumpers, but the Clippers seized it again going into the fourth after a Luke bingo.
Kawhi started the fourth for PG, and Reggie for Zu (who was later ruled out with left knee discomfort), but Nico came back in for Reggie a minute later, and the Clippers went with a no true point guard, no true center lineup for most of the rest of the quarter, to great success. The offense ran through Kawhi, who either scored or passed to open Clippers, sparking ball movement that resulted in some made buckets. On the other end, the Clippers switched, but had enough size and length to get rebounds and be physical as well. The result was a double digit lead, and when the Wolves made a small push, Kawhi came back in to close, heedless of the 30 minute limit. And close Kawhi did, drawing several fouls and pushing the lead up to 16 with just a few minutes to go, which sent the game to garbage time.
Notes
Kawhi Takeover: The shooting numbers weren’t pretty, but Kawhi Leonard dominated this game when he needed to. He only took six free throws, but it felt like more, as he drew a number of fouls. More importantly, his ability to draw multiple defenders opened up the offense for the Clippers, allowing them to get into their drive-and-kick that was so effective in the 2021 season. The efficiency isn’t there yet, but Kawhi already looks a lot more assertive than he was early in the season.
Nico MVP: However, all that said, Nic Batum continues to be maybe the most “valuable” player for the Clippers this season. He shows up every game, plays awesome defense, makes open threes, and does all the little things on both ends of the court. He was somehow a +30 in his 31 minutes in an 11-point Clippers win and a game that was close until the mid-4th quarter, and his impact goes well beyond his 13 points and 7 rebounds. I do think he’s playing a bit too much – he turned 34 today, as did RoCo (happy birthday to them) and has a million miles – but I understand why he does, as the Clippers are significantly better when he’s on the court. What a player.
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