Wolves 93, Clippers 92: Minnesota Snaps Four Game Losing Streak in NBA Cup Win

Despite 22 turnovers, the Timberwolves outlasted the Clippers to snap their four-game losing skid

After a short break for Thanksgiving, the Minnesota Timberwolves were right back in action Friday night against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Wolves came into the game having lost seven of their last night game including their current four-game losing streaks.

Before the game, Wolves coach Chris Finch spoke to the media about how far away his team is from getting back to being a winning basketball team again.

“Looking at it, we’re not a million miles away from where we wanna be, where we need to be. We’ve gotta avoid putting ourselves in the holes that we’re putting ourselves in with periods of play, for sure. But we make these great fightbacks. Give ourselves a chance to win. We should be finishing these games better. And you know, a team that is a team that’s truly sick to the core, they don’t make those fightbacks. So there’s positive to take from that.”

Battling back after poor play early in games has been one of the lone bright spots for the Wolves, but they looked to break the recent pattern of falling down, coming back, and then coming up short with inconsistent play late in the game.

The Clippers were without two of their better players, Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell. They were replaced in the lineup by two names Wolves fans might recognize, former Timberwolf Kris Dunn, and former Minnesota Golden Gophers star Amir Coffey.

The Wolves got off to a good start, taking an early eight-point lead including 3-pointers from four of the Wolves five starters. The solid run of offense would be short-lived as the Wolves would go scoreless for a nearly four minutes stretch, allowing the Clippers to cut the Wolves lead to just one at the end of the first quarter.

After LA took a one-point lead early in the second quarter, Nickeil Alexander-Walker would pull the Wolves out of the mud, scoring seven quick points along with a pretty assist to Rudy Gobert to put the Wolves up by 11.

Nine first-half turnovers by the Wolves would prevent them from building a larger lead, but the Wolves would lead 53-47 at the half.

The turnovers would continue to start the second half as Minnesota would commit five turnovers in less than three minutes, bringing their total up to 14, two shy of passing their season average of 15.7 per game.

With the Wolves up by only three points, Edwards would begin to heat up, making back-to-back 3-pointers to push the Wolves lead up to nine.

The Wolves would turn it over three more times down the stretch of the third quarter, including going scoreless over the last three and a half minutes. After being down by as many as 11, the Clippers trimmed the Wolves lead to 72-68 at the end of three quarters.

Nicolas Batum, who has often been a thorn in Minnesota’s side, would hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the fourth quarter giving him four for the game and tying the game at 80-80.

With the game offense struggling to find an effective shot, Donte DiVincenzo hit a long-range bomb from off the glass, giving the Wolves the lead back.

The Wolves would build the lead to as high as seven, but the Clippers, as they did all game, fought right back, going on a 10-0 run including an and-1 3-pointer from James Harden giving them a 90-87 lead with four minutes left.

Unlike many previous performances, the Wolves did not crumble down the stretch, holding the Clippers to just two points the rest of the game, allowing an Edwards 5-0 run to give them the lead.

With the Wolves up one, a crazy sequence ensued where the Clippers elected not to foul to give themselves the ball back. The Wolves took advantage by securing two offensive rebounds to run out the remainder of the clock.

By the skin of their teeth, the Timberwolves secured a 93-92 victory over the Clippers, snapping their four-game losing streak.

Edwards led the way for Minnesota with 21 points, four rebounds and three assists. Gobert, who played nearly 43 minutes, scored eight points, grabbed 12 rebounds, and was dominant defensively in the paint. Harden scored 20 points with the Wolves making him work for all of those points. He finished 7-20 from the field including three 3-pointers.

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Key Takeaways

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Finding a Way to Win

Coming into the game, the Timberwolves had lost seven of their previous nine games including each of the last four games. While much of the game was not pretty, getting a win in whatever way possible was the most important aspect for a struggling Wolves team.

In many of the Wolves recent losses, they have had leads late in games and have been unable to get the game across the finish line with a win. Tonight, despite a staggering 22 turnovers, they were able to hold on to a game that looked to be on the brink of disaster.

Finch talked after the game about getting back in the win column after their recent stretch of losses.

“We needed a win any way we could get it. We stepped up defensively pretty much all night. That’s what we gotta be, particularly until we can solve some things on offense right now.”

Edwards talked in the locker room about many of the hustle plays, most notably from Naz Reid, that helped them get a win in a situation that has so often been a loss for the Timberwolves this season.

“Those are winning plays. We talked as a team how we want to win and change it around and get back to who we are defensively. Those are things that we gotta do over and over and over again, no matter how tiring it is, how exhausting it is. As a group, after the game, I asked them how bad do we want to win? If we want to win, we’re gonna do that shit every game.”

The Wolves are still not playing at the level they are capable of. There are aspects of this game, both schematic and otherwise, that will need to be worked out in time including the backup point guard and center minutes that continue to be a problem.

For better or worse though, professional sports are about results, and for at least one night, the Timberwolves got the result they needed, a win.

An Avalanche of Turnovers

The Timberwolves turned the ball over 22 times including a staggering nine in the third quarter, allowing the Clippers to stick around in a game where the Wolves outplaying them for large stretches.

It wasn’t just the high number that stood out, but the fact that all eight players in the Wolves rotation turning the ball over at least once with every player but Naz Reid turning it over multiple times.

In the postgame locker room, NAW was asked about what it will take to limit the turnovers that have been an issue the entire season.

“I think getting a feel. Patience. Tonight it was like we were trying to find guys. So I think that’s the main thing, being a little more patient, settling down, surveying, maybe making the play a beat sooner. Noticing it a little late, things like that.”

Finch also spoke about what is causing the turnover issues and the best ways they can go about fixing them.

“ I think two things, know, kind of over dribbling again. And then just we get static, like five guys around the perimeter, and no one really kind of getting us into any next action basketball. And that puts the defense right where it needs to be. And then when we go, like, you read the passing lanes easy or dig in on the drive, just turn over stuff there. So, need more structure.

The Clippers were only able to score 23 points off of the Wolves turnovers, Edwards touched on how they were able to limit the Clippers in transition.

“Getting back, matching up, talking. Getting Rudy back to the paint, matching up, talking Rudy down, get him to the paint. He did a great job protecting the rim tonight. Transition is effort. We put the effort in tonight.”

Coming into the night, the Wolves were 20th in terms of limiting turnovers on offense, a mark that will only get worse after tonight’s game.

It is difficult to point to any one reason for the high amount of turnovers given the team-wide nature of the issues, but it stands out as low-hanging fruit for the Wolves to quickly fix their offensive issues this season.

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Rudy Gobert’s Quiet Defensive Dominance

As is so often the case with Gobert’s best games, his dominance cannot be seen in a simple boxscore. Gobert played nearly 43 minutes in the game, locking down the paint defensively the entire game.

Gobert made Harden’s life particularly difficult when he drove to the basket as he limited him to just four points in the paint, something that often opens up the rest of the floor for Harden.

After the game, Gobert talked about himself and the Wolves making it difficult on Harden the entire night.

“I mean, it’s a team effort. He’s a very smart player, very crafty. I had to make sure that I was kind of mixing it up with him, because every time I was doing something, the next time he was kind of expecting me to do the same. So it’s always kind of a chess game with him. The most important thing is, most of the time, my teammates have my back. And all the guys who were guarding him one-on-one did an incredible job of making him work, so just a great team effort.”

The four-time Defensive Player of the Year has had an up-and-down start to the season as he continues to get used to playing with many of his new teammates, specifically his front-court teammate Julius Randle who is a much different type of defender compared to Karl-Anthony Towns.

As the Wolves look to regain at least some of what made them such a defensive force last season, it is a great sign to see Gobert completely change what the opposing offense is able to do close to the basket.

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Up Next

The Timberwolves finish their four-game homestand with a matchup with the other team Tinseltown, the Los Angeles Lakers. The game begins at 7:00 PM CT with fans being able to watch the game on FanDuel Sports Network North and NBA TV.

Following that game, the Wolves head out on a California road trip including another matchup with the Clippers at the new Intuit Dome. They close out the road trip with two games against the Golden State Warriors.

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Game Highlights