Timberwolves Wrap: Wolves fall just short against Clippers

In an entertaining, back-and-forth game, the Timberwolves came up just short against the Clippers on Monday night, falling by a score of 110-106.

DeAndre Jordan led the way with a 20-point, 12-rebound performance, and Blake Griffin pitched in 16 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 assists of his own for the Clippers. The Wolves had a very balanced attack, led by Zach LaVine‘s 21 points, but it wasn’t enough to ultimately overcome the narrow gap.

After a turnover-filled first seven minutes (the teams had 12 combined turnovers to that point), the game had a pretty good flow to it until a foul-fest in the final few minutes. Jordan carried the Clippers to an early lead, coming out strong with 12 points and 5 rebounds in the first six minutes, including four offensive put-backs.

The Wolves rallied and trailed by a score of 29-25 after the first quarter, with LaVine hitting a difficult buzzer-beating three on the run to answer a Jamal Crawford trey with just a few seconds left. The Wolves’ bench powered the Wolves to a 52-50 halftime lead that was cut down to those two points by a Chris Paul 34-foot jumper that caught nothing but net at the buzzer.

The Wolves seemed to find some footing in the third quarter. Kevin Garnett got it started with a monster throwdown over Blake Griffin that had the arena and social media exploding. It was a flashback to his prime days in a Timberwolves jersey, but we’ll cover it more a little later.

The Wolves bench took the energy and played some inspired basketball for the second straight quarter. It was an exciting quarter of basketball played by both teams, but Shabazz Muhammad and Gorgui Dieng helped lead the Wolves to a 77-71 advantage heading into the fourth. Shabazz was a fiend on the boards all night, finishing with nine rebounds (four offensive) to go with his 13 points and a plus/minus reading of +13.

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The fourth quarter had some thrilling basketball as well, but the Wolves found themselves down 93-90 with just a few minutes left. However, LaVine had a fastbreak dunk, Ricky Rubio hit a jumper, and then found a streaking LaVine on the ensuing possession to complete a 6-0 run to put the Wolves on top with 1:59 to go.

In an interesting twist, Rubio ceded control to let LaVine run a couple pick-and-rolls on the Wolves’ next few possessions. LaVine hit a jumper on the second one to give the Wolves a 98-95 lead with just a minute remaining.

After buckets by DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin, the Clippers took back the lead at 99-98 with 25 seconds to go. After the Wolves couldn’t get a bucket, the rest of the game was all fouls, as the Wolves had to foul to get the ball back while the Clippers continuously fouled while up three to preserve their lead.

That the Wolves were able to play the Clippers so close was an encouraging sign. The Wolves delivered some big punches, but the Clippers were able to take some shots and countered all night to pull out the victory.

Tweets of the Night

Garnett’s posterization of Griffin set off social media. The above tweet by Zach Harper captured the basic message of most tweets about the dunk: KG turned back the clock to his prime years. He immediately got a technical for it, but it was all worth it. Karl-Anthony Towns’ reaction is almost as entertaining as the dunk itself, and watch for Paul Pierce’s reaction as well (on the far left of the bench in the gray warm-up).

Even though the Timberwolves lost, this will be the first thing people remember when they think of this game.

Star of the Night

Shabazz Muhammad — 13 points (4-10 FG, 5-7 FT), 9 rebounds (4 offensive), 26 minutes

This could easily go to Jordan, who tore apart the Wolves with offensive rebounds and on the pick and roll as well, but Muhammad had a tremendous impact on the game. He feasted on the boards and drew a couple of fouls while offensive rebounding as well. Wolves fans have seen this in previous years, so now hopefully Muhammad can stay healthy while he attempts to build off of this game.

Other Notable Timberwolves Lines

Andrew Wiggins — 8 points (3-15 FG, 1-4 3P, 1-5 FT), 7 rebounds, one steal, one block, 2 turnovers

Karl-Anthony Towns — 18 points (7-9 FG, 3-3 3P, 1-2 FT), 5 rebounds, 2 blocks, 6 fouls

Gorgui Dieng —  14 points (5-10 FG, 4-4 FT), 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 fouls

Up Next

The Timberwolves will host the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday in what will be Kobe Bryant’s last game at Target Center.

Next: Top 10 Draft Picks In Timberwolves History

The Wolves already beat the Lakers in the first game of the season by a score of 112-111, so the Wolves should be looking at a bounce back win against the other Los Angeles team. That will be the final game of a four-game homestand that the Wolves are currently 0-3 on, so hopefully they can get at least one win for the hometown fans.