Wolves Postgame Audio
Randy Wittman

Kevin Love

Craig Smith

The Wolves could not shake off the rust from a three-game road trip in the 107-84 loss to the Clippers at the Target Center. Entering the game, Los Angeles had won just three games all season and Minnesota had the opportunity to snap a four-game losing skid.

"Number one, again, we got to play a little bit quicker," head coach Randy Wittman said. "We missed shots and our pace was not good. We had to quicken the pace. Defensively, again, when you're missing shots, and shooting 20 percent, there's more emphasis on your defense."

Mike Miller missed his second straight game due to a right ankle injury and Minnesota felt the effects without its best shooter. The Wolves finished the game 39 percent from the field and were dominated on the glass. Marcus Camby used his extreme length to haul down 19 rebounds with seven blocked shots in a masterful defensive performance. Los Angeles seemed to corral every loose ball on its way to a 54-38 rebounding advantage. In addition to the disparity on the boards, the Clippers tallied 20 second chance points in a clear indication of determination to get a road victory.

"That's desire, loose balls, you know, we don't get loose balls, that's been a problem of ours all year--standing and watching and not anticipating--that's all that is, anticipation; rebounding, reading where the ball is going off, that's the same as with loose balls. That's something we have to clean up," Wittman said.

The Clippers found offense through Zach Randolph in the first half as he recorded 14 points. Randolph moved from outside the paint to hit 8-of-15 from the field and a total of 21 points for the game. Baron Davis remained somewhat insignificant through the first 20 minutes but then started to put his fingerprints on the game. The second half belonged to Davis with 16 points including a no-look pass to Paul Davis on the fastbreak that harkened back to his time in Golden State last year. Davis would help lift the Clippers to their fourth win of the year behind 27 points and 4-of-5 shooting from the 3-point line.

Once again, Wittman changed the starting lineup by inserting Jason Collins and bringing Kevin Love off the bench. Love was playing at a different speed than the rest of the Wolves and it showed in the box score. The rookie out of UCLA put together another double-double performance behind 13 points and 15 rebounds. Al Jefferson fell just two points shy of his season-high with 28 points to lead the Wolves.

Minnesota dropped to 4-15 on the season and will have the next two days to regroup before hosting the Utah Jazz at the Target Center on Tuesday night.

"We have to get better, that's the bottom line. We have to get back to playing each night, not once every three, but with a purpose, to get back to playing with a purpose," Wittman said.



Matt's Stats
-Foye suffered two early blocks at the hands of rookie shooting guard Eric Gordon, and finished with just 2-10 shooting.

-Camby dominated the inside with rebounding and blocks. He finished with seven blocks, getting two of them in one possession on Kevin Love, and 19 rebounds, five of them on the offensive end.

-From early in the game, the Clippers held a strong rebounding advantage which they never relinquished. They finished with a +16 rebounding advantage, 54-38. Love finished with an impressive 13 points and 15 rebounds, his third double-double in the last five games

-Baron Davis dealt with the variety of defensive looks Randy Wittman threw at him by using different techniques against different players. When guarded by the slower Kevin Ollie, Davis took him face-up and drove to the basket. When guarded by the smaller Telfair, B-Diddy posted up, leading to three straight successful possessions at the end of the 1st/start of the 2nd quarter. Finally, Davis used his size and savvy to get Foye into foul trouble. Foye finished with five fouls.

-Al Jefferson had 12 of the Wolves' 21 field goals at the end of the third quarter, accounting for 25 of their 56 points. The rest of the team was just a combined 9-38 through three quarters.

-The crowd cheered when fan favorite Mark "Mad Dog" Madsen checked in at the scoring table with 5:37 left in the game. Madsen, sadly, finished with zero points. The loudest cheers of the night came for Rodney Carney towards the end of the game. The bench squad forced three quick turnovers in "garbage time", which led to a highlight-reel dunk for Carney.

-Despite the fact Jefferson was double-teamed all night, the Wolves didn't attempt a three-pointer until 2:15 left in the second quarter, and finished just 3-10 from long distance.
-Matt Everhart