LA Clippers Embarrassed By Minnesota

While the LA Clippers thought it’d be smooth sailing against the Timberwolves, Minnesota clearly had other plans.

Andrew Wiggins led the charge for Minnesota, while Chris Paul did all he could to rally the Clippers in a losing effort.

On the night, Wiggins dropped 31 points, four rebounds, three assists, and even pitched in two blocks to help with the defensive side of the ball.

For Los Angeles, Paul put up 22 points, eight assists, four rebounds and two steals.

But not much help elsewhere.

Besides Wiggins, Minnesota rookie Karl-Anthony Towns had another double-double to add to his spectacular first-year campaign, giving him 26 double-doubles thus far.

Towns threw down 17 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in 31 minutes of action at Staples Center.

The loss also gave the Timberwolves their first win in over a dozen recent attempts versus the Clippers.

Austin Rivers got himself ejected, too, which didn’t help the cause of Los Angeles whatsoever.

The small leads that the Clippers amounted in the first half and early in the second didn’t mean much because they couldn’t hold on to those leads or build anything reputable off of them.

Jamal Crawford had a good game coming off the bench, offering his own 21 points, four rebounds, and three assists on the night.

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DeAndre Jordan and Wesley Johnson were the other two Clippers players in double-figures, with 18 and 12 points, respectively.

Minnesota is the second-worst team in the Western Conference according to the standings right now and this loss should serve as a wake up call for Los Angeles as they continue to try and thrive without Blake Griffin.

There’s no doubt that they’ll survive in his absence, but whether or not they’ll find a way to climb to the top and dominate their opposition like they’re supposed to is still debatable.

The biggest weakness for Los Angeles in this game was the points in the paint — a battle that Minnesota won by a differential of 14.

Despite scoring the same amount of fast-break points (10), the Timberwolves had the edge in the paint, controlling the flow with a 50-36 advantage over the Clippers.

Sure, you could argue that a big reason for that gap is the Blake Griffin absence, but with how the team was playing throughout January, sooner or later you’ll run out of those kinds of excuses.

Also, the Clippers only got 11 offensive rebounds the whole game. Without second chances, there isn’t much chance of winning basketball games no matter what level you play on.

The Clippers travel to Orlando to play the Magic on Friday.