The Timberwolves have now dropped consecutive games to two-straight Western Conference playoff teams after losing to Golden State on Tuesday and the L.A. Clippers tonight. I hope you enjoyed last night's recap because tonight's is set up the same way: Game Log. Enjoy! 1st Q -Get to listen the Clippers broadcast in this one. Stay tuned for criticism aplenty! -Chauncey Billups not playing tonight despite practicing yesterday. Means Willie Green stays at starting shooting guard spot with Paul, Butler, Griffin & Jordan as the starters. -Clippers look very good early on both ends of the floor. Turning away Wolves players at the rim with blocks and hitting their shots as well as the boards. -Wolves simply getting out-hustled early in this one. -Rubio picks up two quick fouls within the first 2:30 of this one. Doesn't come out of the game though...will have to keep an eye on that. -The Clippers start the game on an 8-0 run in the first three minutes of this one, prompting Adelman to call an early timeout. TWolves just looking a step behind on both ends. -A tip-in for Pek gives the Wolves their first points of the game just before four full minutes elapse in this one. -Blake Griffin with 8 of LAC's 10 points with 7:50 to play in this one (4/5 FG). -Clippers moving the ball very well thus far, getting themselves a lot of open looks early. -Score 6-10, Pek with all 6 of those w/7:00 to play in first quarter. -Seems to be back on track after 5pts on 2-of-8 shooting last night. -TWolves set up a great out of bounds play that gives Ridnour a wide open layup AND HE MISSES IT! -With six and a half minutes gone Pek still has the only points for MIN in this one! LAC leads 7-14. -Blake Griffin now with 10 of LAC's first 18 points! More than the entire Wolves team combined (7 for Pek & 2 for DWill). -Pek now with 9 on 3/5 shooting, they're going to start smothering him down there and other Wolves need to start hitting their shots! -WHOO, former Wolf Ryan Hollins checks in with 3:36 to play in the first quarter. Haha. -My biggest concern was who as going to start out guarding Blake Griffin. It's Derrick Williams and clearly it's anything but successful! Griffin going off in this first quarter! -It's 18-20 Clippers after Ridnour hits a corner three w/2:15 to play. -Clippers with all reserves except Chris Paul who has yet to leave game. Wolves running with all starters except Alexey Shved (for Rubio). -Chris Paul with 6 assists as this first quarter winds down...as well as 4 points. -After first quarter it's 20-26 Clippers. Wolves shooting 26.1% from the field, but staying in this one thanks to Nikola Pekovic. 2nd Q -TWolves start second quarter with Barea, Shved, Budinger, Williams & Stiemsma. Clippers going all reserves: Bledsoe, Crawford, Barnes, Odom & Hollins. -The Clippers are 26-0 when they keep teams under 42% FG. Wolves under 25% right now... -TWolves first points come on two made free throws by D-Will with just over 10:00 to play in first half, Clippers lead 22-28. -Wolves follow those free throws from Williams up with another bucket and a three from Shved to make it 26-28 LAC. -Clippers call timeout, but keep same reserves they started second quarter with out there. -Clippers just 1/5 FG in this second quarter. -With 8:34 to play in quarter, Del Negro brings in Blake Griffin for Ryan Hollins. Within 15 seconds of checking in he nails a turnaround jumper, 6/9 and 12 pts now in just over 10 minutes of play. -Next Clippers possession they go right back to Blake who is fouled in the post. Hits 1 of 2 and now has 13 on the night. Where is Darko Milicic when you need him?! -Barea's getting going now, hits a three-pointer on the break, now with 7pts and the Wolves down 33-35 w/6:55 to play in first half. -Chris Paul checks back in for Bledsoe at 6:52 to play mark. TWolves sticking with same lineup they started quarter with. -With 5:42 to play the Clippers lead by 7 (thanks to back-to-back buckets from Jamal Crawford) 33-40 as we head to a timeout. -Out of timeout the Wolves bring in Rubio for Shved, while the Clippers bring in Jordan for Odom. -TWolves come out of timeout in a 2-1-2 zone (or possibly a 2-3 zone with Greg Sitemsma hedging hard to the free throw line). Works on first defensive possession as they force a Clippers turnover. -Barea definitely feeling it tonight as he knocks down another transition three to make it 40-42, then CP3 answers with a three of his own to push it back to a five-point deficit. -TWolves seem to be going man-to-man after misses and to that zone after made baskets. -Pek getting set to check in, I think they may have waited a bit too long--considering how hot he was in that first quarter. We'll see if he's equally effective in this quarter... -Clippers get to fast break buckets, both ending with wide open dunks from Griffin to make it 49-42, forces Adelman into another timeout with just under three minutes to play in the first half. -TWolves go all starters out of timeout and Pekovic hits a turnaround 8-footer to make it 44-49. -We're almost through the first quarter of play and we haven't seen Dante Cunningham tonight. Derrick Williams isn't tearing it up tonight, so...what gives? It looks like Williams will actually play the entire first half. -Ricky Rubio drives to the rack for a layup and is rejected and fouled by DeAndre Jordan. The baseline mics clearly pick up Jordan saying "Get the F*** Out of Here" Ricky hits both to make it a five-point game, just over a minute to play in first half. -Ricky picks up his third foul with 1:01 to play in first half, heads back to the bench, J.J. returns. -Quarter ends with a J.J. turnover and Chris Paul knocking down a three-pointer. Wolves down by 12 at halftime 46-58. Halftime -TWolves played well through the first two quarters. Had a few lapses late in the second quarter that stretched that lead to double digits in the final few minutes before halftime. -Blake Griffin killing the Wolves early scoring 17 points (10 in first & 7 in second). Paul also in double digits with 12 points as well as 9 assists & 3 steals! -Pekovic ends half with 15 points (13 coming in the first). Still not sure why we waited so long to bring him back in this one... Furthermore, why has Derrick Williams played all 24 first half minutes? He's 1/8 from the field, but has hit his free throws to finish with 8 first half points. -Just checked my Twitter feed and saw that Dante was a late scratch with a sore hamstring. I guess that explains D-Will's minutes... Would rather see some Chris Johnson at the four out there! -4 of the Wolves' last 7 possessions to end the half ended in a turnover. 3rd Q -TWolves hits a field goal to begin the Wolves' second half, his first of the night and just the second in last three games! -Pek hits ANOTHER turnaround jumper from 10-feet out, hits it and gets the foul call! -Clippers broadcast team talking about Wolves injuries, agrees that they're in the mix for the playoffs if completely healthy. -Ricky Rubio picks Chris Paul's pocket and gets the wide open layup on the other end, makes it 53-63 Clippers. -Williams hits a three, the Clippers get hit with an offensive foul and with 8:30 to play in the third quarter the momentum is shifting Minnesota's way. After a Kirilenko layup, Del Negro is forced into a timeout as the Wolves go on an 8-0 run to make it 61-65. -Clippers answer with four quick points out of the timeout, but TWolves not going away as Kirilenko hits a deep 2, Ridnour hits a free throw thanks to a defensive three second call and hits another deep 2 to make it 66-69 w/6:22 to play. -Blake Griffin has been whistled for two straight offensive fouls and the Wolves continue to capitalize on LAC's miscues. -Willie Green hits another three, his second of the quarter and it's back to a six-point game. -Ridnour hits another bucket and has scored Minnesota's last 5 points. -Luke has been matched up against Chris Paul for the majority of this one and has surprisingly held his own in this one! -Wille Green scores another bucket and he now has 12 points. We're letting Willie Green pick us apart in this one. Willie Green! -Pek with the turnaround again and he's now up to 20 with four minutes to play in third. -Green hits another three and he now has 15. We can't stop Willie Green? Seriously?! -Williams scores and now has 15 on the night, still has yet to sit. -Butler scores a three and the Clippers continue this run as they now lead 72-86 with 1:30 to go in the third. -Just like the Warriors game last night, the Wolves are letting this one slip away in the third quarter. -Williams now with a points-rebounds double-double in these extended minutes. -All five starters for the Clippers in double figures. The Wolves have Pek, Ridnour & Williams in double digits. -After three it's 88-72 (biggest Clipper lead of the game) as the Wolves turn in another disappointing third quarter. 4th Q -Clippers start the fourth with all reserves, while Minnesota has all reserves except Andrei Kirilenko out there. That means Derrick Williams gets his first break of the game after playing the first three quarters: 36 minutes. -A 15-point J.J. Barea fourth quarter would really be sweet in this one! He shoots a three short to begin his offensive game in the fourth, followed by another deep two miss. Don't see it happening... -Wolves settling from a lot of three-pointers from Shved, Bud & Barea early in the fourth and none are finding bottom, Clippers lead 74-90 w/8:59 to play. -Wolves offense looks very stagnant here, a lot of standing around, watching. -Crawford knocks down a three to make it a 16-point game again and for some reason Blake Griffin is about to check back into the ball game. -Matt Barnes with the fast break throwdown and then has some choice words for Greg Stiemsma. He was ejected in their last meeting after punching Greg in the throat. He's a thug... :/ -Griffin heads back to bench and won't check in as the Clippers lead 81-100 with 5:30 to play. -This one is over as the Clippers will sweep the season series vs. the Timberwolves--first time in 20 years (last time was 1992-93). -The Wolves continue to brick threes and the Clippers continue to get out on the break for VERY easy baskets. -Alexey Shved gets out on the break dribbles between three defenders and slams down a dunk, then hangs on the rim...Wolves still down 85-104. -Timeout for Adelman w/3:01 to play after a Bledsoe three makes it 85-107. -The story in this one will be another second half letdown after a decent first half. The Wolves have scored over 20pts in the first three quarters, but allowed the Clippers to score 26+ in each as well as 32 apiece in quarters two & three. -Out of timeout Mickael Gelabale & Chris Johnson check in. The Clippers bring in Maalik Wayns & Ronny Turiaf. Do we have to watch these final minutes? -WHOO! Shved gets it to Gelly for the transition hoop, Wolves down just 20! -Sarcasm switch in the upright position. -And that's all she wrote. Clippers win 95-111 and get their franchise record 31st home win in this one. The box score... The Timberwolves were simply out-hustled in this one. It was another rough shooting night for Rubio and Williams seemed to join him in that boat.
Nikola Pekovic rebounded from his 5-point outing last night to drop 20 points on the Clippers in just 25 minutes. LAC may have some athletic freaks in the froncourt in Jordan & Griffin, but the physicality battle was, as usual tipped in Pek's favor. Despite Jordan rejecting some of his shots, he stayed aggressive and that was the key. The Timberwolves allowed Blake Griffin & Chris Paul to pick them apart and then in the third quarter they actually let Willie Green score 11 of his 15 points! Willie Green! When it was all said and done the Clippers finished with seven players in double figures. For the second night in a row the Wolves sat their starters in the fourth quarter, except for Kirilenko who was only playing because of Dante Cunningham's sore hamstring. Alexey Shved scored 10 of his 12 in the fourth, but by then it was ultimately too late. Everytime the Wolves pulled themselves back within 2-5 points the Clippers quickly responded with a spurt that put them back up double digits and eventually the TWolves' back simply broke and it was over just a short time into the third quarter. The Wolves will be back in action on Friday night against a hopeful playoff squad, the Utah Jazz. Stay tuned for the preview of that one, until then, thanks for reading HOWL and GO WOLVES!
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Cody D. AndersonA Wolves fan bringing you Gameday Recaps all season long! 2014-15 Game ArchivesGameday Archives
December 2015
|