Timberwolves-Clippers Preview

By JEFF MEZYDLO
Posted Feb 28 2012 1:46PM

While the Los Angeles Clippers appear to be in solid position to make the playoffs for the first time in six seasons, the Minnesota Timberwolves are hoping they're good enough to end an even longer postseason drought.

The Timberwolves look for a second straight victory over the Clippers when they begin a stretch of three games in three nights Monday at Staples Center.

Minnesota (17-17) won for the fourth time in five games by overcoming a late 16-point deficit to beat Utah 100-98 at home Wednesday. With the victory, the Timberwolves matched their win total from all of 2010-11, and entered the All-Star break 10th in the Western Conference, one game out of the eighth and final playoff spot.

"We'll see if we can keep this thing going," said coach Rick Adelman, trying to guide the Timberwolves to their first playoff appearance since 2003-04. "We're going to have to be playing well, and we're going to have to have a lot of guys stepping up if we're going to maintain what we're doing."

Minnesota faces a tough challenge out of the break with three road games in as many nights - the first two in Los Angeles. The four-game, five-day trip ends in Portland on Saturday before the Timberwolves open a four-game homestand against the Clippers next Monday.

They snapped a four-game road skid against the Clippers (20-11) with a 101-98 victory Jan. 20. Seldom-used forward Darko Milicic had 22 points while All-Star Kevin Love added 17 with 14 rebounds as Minnesota outscored Los Angeles 29-19 in the fourth quarter.

"It's just a whole new feel for the team," said Love, averaging 25.0 points and 14.0 rebounds. "Just giving ourselves a chance to win at the end of games and then figuring out how to win."

Love, who won the All-Star 3-point Shootout over the weekend, has averaged 17.0 points and 12.5 boards in his last four road games against the Clippers.

Second-year center Nikola Pekovic had eight points and two rebounds in 11 minutes off the bench at Los Angeles last month, but has averaged 17.2 points and 10.4 boards over his last 13 games - 11 as a starter.

Minnesota, however, could have a tougher time beating Los Angeles with Chris Paul and Caron Butler in the lineup. Injuries kept both off the floor in the first meeting.

"Obviously, they were a different team because they didn't have Chris or Caron," Love said. "For us to (win), especially in L.A., it's a big deal. The Clippers are a good team."

Paul had a season-36 points with nine assists and Blake Griffin added 27 points and 12 rebounds as Los Angeles avoided a third consecutive defeat with a 103-95 home win over Denver on Wednesday. It was a much-needed victory for the Clippers, who are third in the West and 1 1/2 games ahead of the rival Lakers atop in the Pacific Division.

The Clippers last made the playoffs in 2005-06.

"After the break, that's when it gets serious" said Paul, averaging 27.0 points - nearly eight above his season average - over his last three contests. "Definitely a lot of room for improvement. Obviously we haven't peaked yet and we can keep getting better."

Paul is averaging 21.1 points and 10.5 assists in 17 career games versus Minnesota. Griffin has posted 25.4 points and 10.6 rebounds per game in five meetings with the Timberwolves.

Timberwolves rally in 4th to beat Clippers 109-97

By BETH HARRIS
Posted Feb 29 2012 2:04AM

LOS ANGELES (AP) The first three quarters belonged to the Los Angeles Clippers. In the NBA, though, it's all about what you do in the final quarter and that time belonged to super subs Derrick Williams and Michael Beasley.

They each scored 27 points, teaming up to lead a shooting barrage as the Minnesota Timberwolves won 109-97 Tuesday night in the teams' first game since the All-Star break.

Williams and Beasley contributed mightily to the Wolves' reserves scoring 72 points - best in the NBA this season and two points off the franchise record.

"When you get it going like that, it's close your eyes and throw the ball in the hoop," the Clippers' Chris Paul said. "They made open shots and they made tough shots. When you put that combination together, it's not good for the other team."

Williams and Beasley each had 13 points in the fourth. Williams finished the game 9 of 10 from the field, while making all four of his 3-point attempts and all five of his free throws. Beasley's shooting was just off that, with him hitting 11 of 15 from the field, all three of his 3-pointers and 2 of 4 free throws. They each had five rebounds.

"We were knocking down open shots, taking what the defense gave us and just letting the ball flow," Beasley said. "We did a lot of penetrating and kicking out. Those guys like to block shots, so when you've got two or three guys going after one block, that means you have two guys open for jump shots. It's kind of hard to go from the rim back out to the perimeter and contest those shots."

Nikola Pekovic added 12 points, Martell Webster 11 and Kevin Love 10 for the Wolves, who notched the franchise's 47th win against the Clippers, its most against any opponent.

Love, the 3-point champion during All-Star weekend, took a shot to the ribs in the third quarter and briefly left the court. He returned to the bench about 5 minutes into the fourth wearing a padded shirt. Coach Rick Adelman said Love could have played, but he wasn't needed.

"DeAndre Jordan hit me twice on the same play and in the same spot, but I just got it X-rayed and everything seems to be fine," Love said. "It's going to have a lot of bruising and some inflammation, but hopefully I'll be good to go for tomorrow."

Blake Griffin scored 30 points, Paul added 27 and Jordan had 14 points and 14 rebounds for the Clippers, who similarly faltered in the fourth quarter of a 101-98 home loss to the Wolves on Jan. 20. The loss narrowed the Clippers' Pacific Division lead to a game over the Los Angeles Lakers.

"We'll see what we're made of now," Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro said. "We have a tough road trip coming up. We're going to have to play on a higher level, especially on the road now, but maybe that will help us come together more."

The Clippers led virtually all of the first three quarters and were up 76-73 going into the fourth.

"Michael Beasley and Derrick Williams hit tough shots and they hit a lot in a row," Griffin said. "We couldn't get our shots."

The Wolves made their first 10 field goals of the fourth after hitting their final three in the third.

Williams caught fire, opening with a 3-pointer and then scoring 10 in a row to put the Wolves ahead 90-82. During his torrid stretch, Williams sank a jumper and landed on his rear, getting fouled by Kenyon Martin in the process. He made the free throw - one of three in a row - and capped his run with another 3-pointer.

"I was picking my spots and knocking down open shots," Williams said. "Kevin didn't have one of his best nights, so people had to step up. That's the good thing about our team. Even though Kevin's the All-Star, we have a lot of other people who can do great things. And when he's struggling, people have to come off the bench and pick him up."

From there, Beasley took over, scoring his 13 points after Williams tallied his. Beasley capped his run with a 3, too.

"If we're going to make any type of noise at all moving forward, we've got to win against good teams on the road," Adelman said, "so this is a big statement for us."

Los Angeles never made a serious run late.

"We got to impose our will and that's going to come with practice," Paul said. "We couldn't get a stop. The effort was there, we played hard, but those guys beat us."

The Clippers opened the third quarter on a 7-0 run to go up by 10 points. The Wolves answered with eight straight points of their own to close to 61-59. From there, the Clippers outscored them 15-14 to close the period ahead by three.

Griffin scored 18 points in the first quarter. He sat all but the final five minutes of the second, when he scored six points, giving him 24 at halftime when the Clippers led 54-51. Los Angeles led all but the opening minutes of the first half, when the team shot 52 percent from the floor and made 10 of 13 free throws.

NOTES: The Clippers fell to 12-5 at home. ... The Wolves opened a stretch of three games in three nights. They play the Lakers on Wednesday and visit Phoenix on Thursday. This trip coincides with a month-long stretch in which they play 13 of 18 on the road. ... Baseball Hall of Famer Dave Winfield attended the game.

Notebook: Wolves 109, Clippers 97

Posted Wednesday February 29, 2012 2:00AM

By Dan Arritt, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Derrick Williams and Michael Beasley erupted for 27 points each off the bench Tuesday night, leading a fourth-quarter charge by the Timberwolves that resulted in a 109-97 victory at Staples Center.

QUOTABLE: "We were just hitting shots, getting our stops and getting into transition ... We just want to get a lot of points and make a lot of stops."
-- Derrick Williams.

THE STAT: Led by Williams and Beasley, the Minnesota reserves accounted for 72 points, the most bench points by an NBA team this season. By comparison, the Clippers' reserves accounted for 11 points and the Minnesota starters had 37.

TURNING POINT: Williams made a pair of free throws with 8:47 remaining in the game to give the Timberwolves their first lead since scoring the first basket of the game. On the next trip down the floor, Williams was fouled by Kenyon Martin as he sank a jump shot from the top of the key and made the free throw for a five-point lead. Williams continued his hot hand, scoring five of the next seven points to extend the lead to eight and the Clippers never got back within six points.

HOT: Williams, a 6-foot-8 rookie forward who played at La Mirada High School in southern L.A. county, nearly doubled his previous season high of 15 points. He finished 9-for-10 from the floor, including 4-for-4 from 3-point range and sank all five free-throw attempts. Beasley was 11-for-15 from the floor. Williams and Beasley each scored 13 points in the deciding fourth quarter and were a combined 8-for-8 from the floor ... Blake Griffin scored 30 points for the Clippers, including 24 in the first half, the best half of any player on the Clippers this season.

NOT: Clippers small forward Caron Butler made a late basket to avoid his first scoreless game in six years. He finished with two points on 1-for-10 shooting ... For the Timberwolves, power forward Kevin Love had an off night after returning from All-Star weekend, scoring 10 points on 4-for-13 shooting. Love also scored a season-low 10 points in his final game before the All-Star break.

GOOD MOVE: It was probably one of the easiest decisions Minnesota coach Rick Adelman had to make this season, keeping his starters on the bench for most of the fourth quarter. Ricky Rubio and Wesley Johnson played a little more than a minute each, and the other three starters stayed on the bench. Considering the Timberwolves were playing the first of three road games in three nights, the extra rest might just come in handy.

BAD MOVE: Clippers center DeAndre Jordan had a solid all-around game with 14 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks, but has a bad habit of blindly saving loose balls under his own basket. He made that decision again early in the third quarter and threw the ball behind his back to Love, who scored an easy lay up to cut the Clippers' lead to four.

QUOTABLE II: "It was a disappointing effort all around. I didn't like our intensity from the get-go. They did what I thought they would, they tried to keep it close."
-- Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro

NOTABLE: The Timberwolves surpassed last season's win total with the victory ... The last time the Clippers hosted the Timberwolves on Jan. 20, they blew a 12-point lead with just under nine minutes remaining and lost on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by Love ... Bobby Simmons made his debut for Clippers after signing a 10-day contract Monday. He played 17 minutes and finished with no points and three rebounds. It was his first NBA action since he played against the Clippers last season as a member of the Spurs ... The Clippers fell to 6-2 when Jordan gets at least four blocks ... Clippers point guard Chris Paul, who finished with 27 points and six assists, had a fourth-quarter steal to extend his streak of games with at least one steal to 36 games, the longest active streak in the NBA.

UP NEXT: For the Clippers, Thursday @ Sacramento, Friday @ Phoenix, Sunday @ Houston. For the Timberwolves, Wednesday @ L.A. Lakers, Thursday @ Phoenix, Saturday @ Portland.

• Timberwolves: Lee, Randolph
• Clippers: Billups, Leslie

• Timberwolves: Love
• Clippers: --

• Lead Changes: 2
• Times Tied: 5

• Arena: Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA
• Officials: #49 Tom Washington, #73 Tre Maddox, #59 Gary Zielinski
• Attendance: 19243
• Duration: 2:12