Clippers continue dominance over Timberwolves with 107-99 victory
Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins loses his balance as he’s surrounded by Clippers defenders Sunday.
In his first two seasons as Clippers coach, Doc Rivers guided the team through five winning streaks of at least six games. So it was a little hard for him to get too worked up over the fact Sunday’s 107-99 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Staples Center gave his team consecutive victories for the first time in nearly a month.
“I just don’t like to know that two games is a win streak,” he said. “That’s a sad statement, to be honest.”
Guard Chris Paul had a different view. Each of those previous streaks had to begin somewhere, he said. And if Sunday’s victory is the one that finally gets the troubled Clippers headed in the right direction, then it might just prove worth remembering.
“We are winning games,” he said. “It’s not always going to be pretty. But we have to pile up wins.”
The Clippers have always done that against Minnesota, having won their last 13 games against the Timberwolves dating to February 2012. But Rivers’ team hasn’t done so well against the rest of the league lately, entering Sunday without a winning record after 16 games for the first time in five seasons.
So something had to give and the turning point in this one came early, when Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett left the court after drawing his third foul less than seven minutes into the game. The Timberwolves led by five at the time but with Garnett on the bench, the Clippers went on a 19-4 run to take a 10-point lead early into the second period.
The Clippers never trailed again, although there were some anxious moments, especially after the Timberwolves sliced a 15-point deficit lead to five with 4 minutes 3 seconds to play.
Closing out games has been a challenge for the Clippers, but this time the team responded with eight consecutive points on a three-point basket by J.J. Redick, a steal by Luc Mbah a Moute that set up a fadeaway jump shot by Paul, and a basket and a free throw by Blake Griffin to push the advantage to 96-83.
Twelve of Griffin’s game-high 26 points came in the final 6 ½ minutes and he also finished with eight rebounds and eight assists.
“We executed pretty well,” said Paul, who had 20 points and a game-high nine assists. “First and foremost, we made shots. Blake made some big shots down the stretch. So did J.J.
“And most of all we defended and got stops when we needed to.”
In fact, the Clippers did a lot right, getting 27 points from its bench while Redick finished with 18 points and DeAndre Jordan had nine points and nine rebounds. They also made more than half their shots from the field, which pretty much guarantees a victory since the Clippers have won the last 49 games in which they have shot 50% or better. That’s a streak that should get Rivers’ attention.
“We’re in a good place where we’re at and who we are as a team. But we all have to be on that same page,” said Griffin of the team’s early-season inconsistency. “It’s just part of going through the ups and downs of the NBA and not getting too high when things are going well and not getting too low when things aren’t going so well.”
In the locker room, however, even the modest two-game winning streak was feeling like a turnaround. As Paul said, you can’t get to three victories without winning two first. And the Clippers can make it three in a row Monday against Portland.
“We’re going in the right direction,” said forward Lance Stephenson, who had nine points in nearly 20 minutes off the bench. “And we’re going to keep going, too.”
Follow Kevin Baxter on Twitter: @kbaxter11
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