After a basket from James Harden in the middle of the second quarter, the Clippers lead by 22 points (57-35) against Wolves out of ideas offensively. Even without Kawhi Leonard since the end of the first quarter, there is a clear difference between the two teams.
However, this gap, the most important of the game for Los Angeles, is also the top of the mountain for Tyronn Lue's players. Then, it's the tumble with a 20-2 conceded in less than five minutes. After 24 minutes, everything has to be done again for the Clippers, everything is possible for the Wolves.
A success snatched from the mind…
Orphaned by Kawhi Leonard and facing an Anthony Edwards who will impose his will with his penetrations, the Californians will sink in the second period. “There were a lot of advantageous duels for me”, says Minnesota guardauthor of 37 points. “The best defender is Kawhi. He is not there. They put two defenders on me, tried things, and I made one shot after another. »
His teammates did the job too, with a very good Mike Conley (23 points at 5/8 at 3-pts) and an almost perfect Nickeil Alexander-Walker with 28 points at 9/10 on the shoot and 5/6 behind the bow. The whole team went up a notch, or even two, in attack and defense, the Clippers having lost 12 balls in the second half.
“This team believes in itself,” notes coach Chris Finch. “We defended hard, we circulated the ball well, we played transitions like never before. We had to do this to turn things around. The players believe in themselves, support each other strongly. It's good to have won like that because we had been struggling for a few matches to have energy, and here we did it. »
…in the biggest match of the season
A 22-point comeback in Los Angeles, against the Clippers, remains a strong moment, even if Kawhi Leonard, injured in the back, did not play the last 36 minutes, those dominated by the Wolves (who do not have Karl- Anthony Towns for several weeks) precisely.
“We have the feeling that this is our benchmark victory. Regardless of the absentees, the team put on a show in the second half”says Anthony Edwards. “It’s no secret: it was undoubtedly the biggest match of our season by far,” confirms Mike Conley. “We were coming off two defeats, we were playing the Clippers. They are close in the standings and to steal this match means a lot. »
“I hope it will announce even more beautiful things”, continues the playmaker, after this victory which makes it possible to avoid a third defeat in a row and also to stay in contact with the Thunder, who lost Tuesday evening, and the Nuggets on the podium of the Western conference. Even if Rudy Gobert was injured, injured in the ribs.
| Shots | Rebounds | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Players | MJ | Min | Shots | 3pts | L.F. | Off | Def | Early | Pd | Bp | Int | Ct | Party | Pts |
| Anthony Edwards | 62 | 35.1 | 46.1 | 36.9 | 83.9 | 0.6 | 4.7 | 5.2 | 5.0 | 3.1 | 1.3 | 0.6 | 1.9 | 26.3 |
| Karl Anthony Towns | 60 | 32.8 | 50.6 | 42.3 | 87.4 | 1.5 | 6.9 | 8.4 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 3.3 | 22.1 |
| Rudy Gobert | 62 | 33.9 | 64.9 | 0.0 | 64.9 | 3.7 | 9.2 | 12.9 | 1.2 | 1.5 | 0.6 | 2.1 | 3.1 | 13.8 |
| Naz Reid | 65 | 23.5 | 48.4 | 41.9 | 75.7 | 1.0 | 3.9 | 4.9 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.9 | 2.1 | 12.8 |
| Jaden Mcdaniels | 55 | 29.3 | 49.7 | 35.1 | 75.0 | 0.8 | 2.2 | 2.9 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 3.1 | 10.5 |
| Mike Conley | 60 | 28.9 | 44.0 | 42.5 | 91.4 | 0.5 | 2.5 | 3.0 | 6.2 | 1.2 | 1.1 | 0.2 | 1.7 | 10.5 |
| Nickeil Alexander-walker | 65 | 23.3 | 42.6 | 37.3 | 78.7 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 0.9 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 7.3 |
| Kyle Anderson | 62 | 22.3 | 46.7 | 21.6 | 70.6 | 0.7 | 2.8 | 3.5 | 4.1 | 1.2 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 1.5 | 6.2 |
| Tj Warren | 3 | 16.8 | 53.3 | 20.0 | 0.0 | 0.7 | 2.0 | 2.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 2.0 | 5.7 |
| Monte Morris | 11 | 15.7 | 38.6 | 36.0 | 71.4 | 0.3 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 2.9 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.5 | 5.3 |
| Shake Milton | 38 | 12.9 | 40.0 | 26.4 | 81.8 | 0.2 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.3 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 1.2 | 4.7 |
| Troy Brown, Jr. | 37 | 11.1 | 44.1 | 36.9 | 86.4 | 0.4 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.7 | 4.2 |
| Jordan McLaughlin | 39 | 9.2 | 42.6 | 43.1 | 60.0 | 0.3 | 0.8 | 1.1 | 1.8 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 2.8 |
| Luka Garza | 15 | 3.3 | 43.3 | 33.3 | 75.0 | 0.5 | 0.4 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.9 | 2.8 |
| Leonard Miller | 7 | 3.7 | 63.6 | 33.3 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 1.3 | 1.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 2.1 |
| Daishen Nix | 11 | 3.3 | 42.1 | 38.5 | 25.0 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 2.0 |
| Josh Minott | 22 | 2.9 | 43.5 | 14.3 | 85.7 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 1.5 |
| Wendell Moore, Jr. | 15 | 3.0 | 50.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.4 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.3 | 0.7 |
| Justin Jackson | 2 | 0.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
