CRYPTO CRASH
Clippers, leading by 22, get overrun by Timberwolves after Leonard leaves with back spasms
Losing large double-digit leads has become an unnerving trend in the NBA. Many teams, whether they are toptier or sit near the bottom of the standings, have seen significant leads evaporate in a barrage of 3-pointers.
The Clippers have experienced this phenomenon a few times this season, most recently Tuesday night against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
After trailing by as many as 22 in the first half, the Timberwolves picked up their scoring in the second and came away with a convincing 118-100 victory at Crypto.com Arena.
More devastating than the Clippers’ collapse was the loss of Kawhi Leonard, who left the court after playing 12 minutes because of thoracic spasms that made it difficult for the All-Star wing to sit. He left in the second quarter.
By then, the Timberwolves were just getting warmed up.
Minnesota guard Anthony Edwards picked up the slack left by the absence of Karl-Anthony Towns, who is out with a left meniscus tear. Edwards scored 29 of his game-high 37 points in the second half and Nickeil Alexander-Walker added 28 points to lead the Timberwolves to their third victory in four games against the Clippers.
The game was big, not only in terms of the standings, but a potential tiebreaker. The loss left the Clippers (41-23) 3-½ games behind Western Conference leader Oklahoma City and gave the tiebreaker edge to the third-place Timberwolves, who are now three games ahead of the Clippers in the standings.
“We got to get better and understand that all these games mean something,” Clippers
coach Tyronn Lue said before Tuesday’s game. “Not just Minnesota tonight with the tiebreaker, but the other 18 games after this; they all mean something. So, we’ve got to have the right approach, understanding what we want to do on offense, what we want to do on defense and actually execute it.
“That’s got to be our mindset for these last 18, 19 games.”
Especially if Leonard is out for any length of time. He sat out the Milwaukee loss because of left groin soreness and there wasn’t any word about how the back spasms will affect his availability going forward.
Paul George picked up for Leonard, scoring 22 points on 5-of-11 shooting and making all 10 of his foul shots. James Harden had a quiet 12 points and seven assists, while Norman Powell finished with 12 points.
Meanwhile, the Timberwolves made their move largely after Leonard departed, going on a 20-2 run that nearly erased the work the Clippers did early in building a 22-point lead. Behind Edwards’ longrange shooting, Minnesota pulled to within four, 5955, with 51 seconds left in the first half.
The Timberwolves struggled from 3-point range for much of the first half. Without Towns, the team’s second-best 3-point shooter, they languished. It wasn’t until the late shooting spree did they managed to find the basket from beyond the arc.
The Clippers managed
BOX SCORE
Minnesota Min
Anderson 28:48 5-8 McDaniels 23:24 0-8 Gobert 33:26 4-7 Conley 27:28 9-15 Edwards 36:30 15-29 AlxndrWlkr 27:37 9-10 Reid 21:56 3-7 McLaughln 17:03 2-3 Warren 13:44 1-4 L.Miller 2:31 0-0 Minott 2:31 0-2 Moore Jr. 2:31 0-0 Nix 2:31 0-1
Totals 240:00 48-94 10-14 19-48 26 20 118
Percentages: Goals:
FG .511, FT .714;
12-33, .364 (Alexander-Walker
5-6, Conley 5-8, Edwards 2-8, Anderson 0-1, Nix 0-1, Warren 0-2, Reid 0-3, McDaniels 0-4); 3. Team Turnovers: 2; 5 (Gobert 2, McLaughlin, Minott, Reid); 9 (Alexander-Walker 2, Anderson 2, Edwards 2, Conley, McDaniels, Warren); Steals: 11 (Gobert 2, McDaniels 2, McLaughlin 2, Nix 2, Conley, Edwards, Reid); None
Technical Fouls:
Minnesota Clippers
Clippers
George Leonard Zubac Harden Mann Powell Coffey Hyland Theis Boston Jr. Brown J.Miller Moon Plumlee
Min
35:07 12:00 26:42 33:51 27:38 27:57 18:14 17:53 15:14 8:50 4:08 4:08 4:08 4:08
21 34 29 34 — 118 34 29 15 22 — 100
FT Reb A PF Pts
5-1110-10 2-4 1-2 3-5 4-4 4-10 2-2 3-6 0-0 4-9 2-3 3-6 1-1 3-8 0-0 4-5 1-1 1-3 0-2 0-0 0-0 1-2 0-0 1-1 0-0 0-1 0-0
Totals 240:00 34-71 21-25
Percentages: Goals:
FG .479, FT .840;
11-30, .367 (Hyland 2-4, George 2-5, Harden 2-6, Theis 1-1, Leonard 1-2, Powell 1-2, Mann 1-3, Coffey 1-4, Boston Jr. 0-1, J.Miller 0-1, Plumlee 0-1); Team
6. Team Turnovers: None;
5 (Boston Jr. 2, Theis 2, Powell); 19 (George 5, Harden 4, Hyland 2, Zubac 2, J.Miller, Mann, Moon, Plumlee, Powell, Theis);
(Mann 3, Harden 2, George, Theis);
None; 19,370 (18,997)
Rebounds:
Blocked Shots:
Turnovers:
Fouls:
FG FT Reb A PF Pts
0-1 0-0 0-0 0-0 5-7 5-6 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0-0 3-5 1-4 7-11 2-3 2-8 1-3 1-5 1-6 0-0 1-2 0-1 0-0 0-0
3-Point
Team Rebounds: Blocked Shots:
FG
A:
7 1 3 3 4 1 3 2 1 0 1 0 0 1 10 4 0 2 8 0 23 3 37 3 28 3 6 1 4 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers:
0-3 3 4 22 0-2 2 0 6 3-8 1 2 10 0-2 7 1 12 1-2 0 2 7 1-4 2 3 11 0-1 1 1 8 0-2 3 4 8 1-4 1 0 10 1-1 0 1 2 0-1 0 0 0 1-1 0 0 2 0-0 0 0 2 0-3 2 0 0
8-34 22 18 100
3-Point Steals:
Technical
7 to regroup and hang on for a 63-55 halftime lead. But that lead wasn’t safe, either.
After George buried his second 3-pointer to put the Clippers up, 66—57, Minnesota went on a 12-0 run to take over the lead, 69-68, with 7:21 left in the third quarter and led 8478 heading into the fourth.
The Clippers failed to capitalize offensively. coming up empty on their final seven possessions of the quarter, which allowed the Timberwolves to take over and take their own 22-point lead.