This one hurts. The Clippers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves 93-92 on Friday night, where a few bad bounces and some late turnovers cost them the game.
Now 12-9 on the season, the Clippers got a 20 point, 11 assist and 5 steal game from James Harden, who led the team in scoring.
AND-UNOOO 🗣️👌 pic.twitter.com/ZICglp2koX
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) November 30, 2024
5 Clippers were in double figures in that same scoring department, including a season high 17 points from Kevin Porter Jr. and 12 points from Nico Batum.
Ivica Zubac also continued his hot stretch of basketball, contributing 16 points and 13 rebounds, while only missing a single shot from the field.
LOOK OUT FOR ZUNO 👀
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) November 30, 2024
HARDEN ➡️ BIG ZU pic.twitter.com/nTTgfMBp3b
The game itself came down to the last few possessions however, as the Clippers stormed back from a double digit deficit to take the lead on a James Harden 4-point play late in the 4th quarter.
It seemed like every time the Clippers punched back, the Timberwolves had an answer for it. Coming in, Minnesota was riding a 4 game losing streak, so they played some desperate basketball.
The Clipper defense held the Wolves to under 100 points in total, and Anthony Edwards to only 21 points on 7/21 shooting.
Usually, that results in a Clipper victory, but being out-rebounded by 10 cost them the game, especially in the late stages of the game.
The Clippers forced a miss with under 10 seconds to go in a 93-92 lead for the Wolves, and as Kris Dunn went to grab the rebound and presumably push the ball up the floor, he lost his balance.
The Timberwolves escape after this crazy sequence where the Clippers decided not to foul pic.twitter.com/6zGvXNYhKC
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) November 30, 2024
The ball got away from Dunn and into the hands of the Wolves, who ultimately dribbled the clock out and ended the game after a Rudy Gobert offensive rebound.
The Clippers chose not to foul, and the Wolves decided to just end the game. Brutal, heartbreaking and disappointing are all words you can use to describe the way the Clippers lost the game.
They showed fight, they came back, got big games out of a few bench players, and just came up short because of a few mistakes. Such is the life of a team that is missing it’s best scorer in this new season in Norm Powell (who should return Sunday at home).
Now, the Clippers will try to improve to 2-0 on the season against the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night. Tipoff is set for 7:00 PM PST.