Oddsmakers currently have the Los Angeles Clippers just a hair behind Denver for the title of favorite to win the Western Conference.
But if the Clippers’ road to a conference or NBA title runs through Minnesota, it’s difficult to like Los Angeles’ chances. The Timberwolves showed again Monday that they indeed have the Clippers’ number.
Minnesota dominated every facet of the game en route to running Los Angeles off the court in the second half Monday in California, delivering a 121-100 blowout victory over a previously red-hot Clippers team.
The Clippers have lost just seven of their last 34 games. Two of those defeats have come to the Timberwolves. And neither was all that competitive. A mid-January date at Target Center reads as a four-point Wolves win, but Minnesota led that one by 17 points with five and a half minutes to play before L.A.’s Norman Powell went nuclear to tighten the final gap.
There was no such late-game push from the Clippers on Monday. It was all Minnesota over the final 24 minutes. Trailing by four at the break, the Timberwolves looked as though they were shot out of a cannon in the third quarter as they went on an 8-0 run in the first 96 seconds of the half.
The close to that same quarter was even more impressive. Minnesota scored 16 of the final 19 points in the third period to seize a 17-point advantage. For the entire quarter, the Wolves outscored Los Angeles 40-19 as the Clippers nearly had as many turnovers (five) as made shots (seven).
That quarter was largely representative of the vise Minnesota often puts the Clippers in when the two sides square off. The Clippers are a team centered on high-level isolation players. But Minnesota is stacked with high-level isolation defenders. And those defenders are backed up by perhaps the League’s top defensive player in Rudy Gobert.
So the Clippers generally play right into Minnesota’s hands, attacking the likes of Anthony Edwards, Jaden McDaniels and Nickeil Alexander-Walker head on. Good luck with that. The story usually ends with Los Angeles stifled.
The Clippers shot just 41 percent from the field Monday, and 32 percent from 3-point range. They had just 42 points in the paint to Minnesota’s 64. Edwards and Karl-Anthony Towns combined for 22 points in that decisive third quarter, as Minnesota lived in the paint and on the free-throw line.
Los Angeles’ adjustment was to go small, to no avail. Rudy Gobert punished any guards who stood between him and the bucket on a night where he tallied 17 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks.
The Clippers’ guards and wings simply lacked the physicality needed to deter Gobert, Towns, Edwards and even Naz Reid from getting whatever they wanted on the interior.
Minnesota has now beaten the Clippers in six of the last meetings between the two sides dating back to the 2021-22 campaign. If the Clippers (35-17) can’t beat a fellow contender like Minnesota, as currently appears to be the case, then how can Los Angeles be a favorite in the West?
Or, perhaps a more relevant question around these parts, how can currently top-seeded Timberwolves (37-16) not be?