The Minnesota Timberwolves are a game clear atop the Western Conference standings after taking care of the LA Clippers 121-100 at Crypto.com Arena.
The visitors produced a balanced effort to claim their seventh win from their past 10; Anthony Edwards (23 pts, 7 reb, 8 ast) led the way with Karl-Anthony Towns (24 pts, 8/12 FG) and Rudy Gobert (17 pts, 10 reb, 4 blk) also pitching in.
Nickeil Alexander-Walker (15 pts, 6/9 FG, 3/3 3PM) proved a sparkplug off the bench whilst Jaden McDaniels (11 pts, 5/8 FG) and Naz Reid (11 pts, 5/9 FG) also finished in double-digits.
The Clippers took a narrow lead into halftime before the Timberwolves broke the game open with a third quarter in which they outscored Ty Lue’s squad 40-19 to race out to an ultimately insurmountable 24-point advantage.
The Timberwolves – who currently possess the league’s highest-ranked defence – held the high-powered Clippers offence to their third-lowest points total of the season.
They shot just 40.5% from the floor and made just nine threes whilst committing 13 turnovers.
The Timberwolves were +22 in the painted area and +6 on the defensive boards as they found a way to overwhelm the Clippers with their size.
The Clippers’ star trio of Kawhi Leonard (18 pts, 8/17 FG), Paul George (18 pts, 5/16 FG), and James Harden (17 pts, 5/13 FG) shot a combined 18-of-46 from the floor with Russell Westbrook (11 pts, 3/11 FG) and Amir Coffey (10 pts, 4/5 FG) the only other Clippers to finish with double-figures scoring.
LA will look to return to their winning ways when they take on an improving Warriors unit in San Francisco on Thursday whilst the Timberwolves are in Portland to face the Trail Blazers in the second night of a back-to-back tomorrow.
