Clippers-Timberwolves Preview

By JEFF BARTL
Posted Apr 12 2012 5:57PM

The Minnesota Timberwolves were making a run at their first postseason appearance in the post-Kevin Garnett era before an injury to star rookie Ricky Rubio last month sent them into a slump.

It may get even worse without their leading scorer.

Kevin Love won't play Thursday night when Minnesota hosts the surging Los Angeles Clippers, who are clinging to fourth place in the Western Conference.

Minnesota was 21-19 heading into its game against the Los Angeles Lakers on March 9, but Rubio suffered a season-ending tear of his left ACL in the final moments of a 105-102 defeat.

The Timberwolves (25-34), who haven't qualified for the postseason since Garnett led them to the West finals in 2004, have fallen out of playoff contention by losing 14 of 18 games since Rubio went down. They lost 113-107 at Denver on Wednesday - their seventh straight defeat.

Unfortunately for Minnesota, Rubio's injury may not be the most devastating blow this season.

Love suffered a mild concussion after being hit in the head with an elbow from Denver's JaVale McGee, spending Wednesday night in the hospital as a precaution. The All-Star forward was cleared to return home, but it's uncertain when he will be back in action after being ruled out of Thursday's game.

He entered Wednesday averaging an NBA-best 28.8 points since the All-Star break and is fourth in the league this season at 26.0 per game.

"It was pretty bad, but hopefully he will be all right," said guard J.J. Barea, who had a career-high 15 assists. "As soon as he got hit, I knew that he was out. He was talking, but he wasn't all there, though."

Love's absence prevents another showdown with Blake Griffin and hinders the Wolves' chances of a season sweep of the Clippers. Love hit a last-second 3-pointer in a 101-98 win Jan. 20 and had 39 points and 17 rebounds in a 95-94 victory March 5.

Griffin performed well in all three contests, but had his best showing with a 30-point performance Feb. 28, when Love scored only 10. However, Michael Beasley and Derrick Williams picked up the slack for Minnesota by scoring 27 points each off the bench in a 109-97 win.

Williams also scored 27 off the bench Wednesday for the Wolves, who rallied from a 24-point deficit to tie it with help from Anthony Randolph's game-high 28 points.

"Kevin is our go-to guy," Williams said. "But I always say, injuries create opportunities for everybody else and people have to step up when their name is called."

The Clippers haven't lost four straight to Minnesota since a nine-game losing streak Jan. 15, 2003-Dec. 17, 2004, and they'll look to end the current skid by earning their 10th victory in 12 games overall.

Los Angeles (35-23) remained one-half game ahead of Memphis for fourth place and the accompanying home-court advantage in the first round of the postseason with a 100-98 win at Oklahoma City on Wednesday.

Chris Paul scored 31 points and hit the deciding layup with 8.8 seconds remaining for the Clippers, who also got 16 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists from Griffin.

"That's the reason he's the best down the stretch. He takes over games," Griffin said of Paul. "For that to be our guy, and he has the ball in his hands a lot, it just works out perfectly."

Paul missed the first meeting with Minnesota, but his career average of 21.3 points versus the Timberwolves is tied for his third-best against any opponent.

The Wolves have won three of the last four meetings in Minnesota.

Griffin, Clippers overwhelm Love-less Wolves

By JON KRAWCZYNSKI
Posted Apr 12 2012 11:10PM

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The Los Angeles Clippers are getting healthy and starting to roll at the right time, with hopes high that they're going to be playing deep into the postseason.

The Minnesota Timberwolves are so banged up that this year can't end soon enough.

Blake Griffin had 19 points and 13 rebounds and Caron Butler scored 17 points to lead the playoff-bound Clippers to a 95-82 victory over the Timberwolves on Thursday night.

Mo Williams had 14 points and five assists in his return for the Clippers, who entered the night 1 1/2 games behind the Lakers for the third seed in the West and just a 1/2 game ahead of Memphis for the fourth seed.

"It's great to get a win no matter what, especially at this time of year when we're fighting for spots," said Griffin, whose Clippers improved to 15-14 on the road and haven't finished with a winning road record since relocating to L.A. in 1984. "It's a great win for us."

Michael Beasley had 14 points and 10 rebounds and J.J. Barea had 10 points and 11 assists for the Timberwolves, who have lost eight straight games. They've lost 24 in a row in the month of April dating back to 2009.

The Wolves were playing without All-Star Kevin Love, who missed the game with a mild concussion, the latest in a long line of injuries that derailed a once promising season.

"It can't get any worse, man," Barea said with eight stitches in his lip courtesy of a collision late in the first half. "It can't get any worse."

The Clippers made 12 3-pointers and turned 17 Minnesota turnovers into 24 points. Butler hit 5 of 8 from deep and the Clippers outscored Minnesota 20-6 in the first nine minutes of the final period to blow the game open.

Williams was 6 for 11 in his first game since March 22. He missed 11 straight with a sprained big toe on his left foot, but he's returning just in time to get back into a groove before the playoffs.

There was a little panic in Lob City when the Clippers lost eight of 11 games in March and appeared to be sliding down the Western Conference ladder. But they appear to be picking up steam at just the right time, with 10 wins in their last 12 games as the playoffs approach.

"It felt great. The team was in a great rhythm so I just didn't want to mess up the rhythm the team was playing with," Williams said. "I just wanted to step right in and do whatever I can to help the team."

The loss officially eliminated the Wolves from playoff contention, but they've been out of the conversation for quite some time.

The Timberwolves took the first three games of the season series, including two at Staples Center, but it was an entirely different team that took the court on Thursday night. Ricky Rubio has been out since March 9 with torn ligaments in his left knee and Love missed the game with a concussion suffered in Denver on Wednesday.

The Wolves were also missing Luke Ridnour (ankle) and Wayne Ellington (back spasms), and it appeared like the Clippers took the short-handed Wolves a little too lightly in the early going.

The signs were there from the beginning, with Griffin missing a wide open, uncontested dunk and starting the game 2 for 7. The Wolves were shooting 53 percent to take a lead into halftime.

Griffin finally started taking advantage of Love's absence in the fourth, throwing down three dunks and scoring on a back-down in the post during the deciding 20-2 run.

Barea left in the final three minutes of the second quarter after being cut on the chin. He had 10 points and 10 assists in the first half, but picked up his fourth foul midway through the third quarter and was held to just one assist in the second half.

Anthony Randolph had 16 points, nine rebounds and three blocks and Nikola Pekovic scored 17 for the Wolves.

"Five down going into the fourth quarter and just could not make a shot," Wolves coach Rick Adelman said. "Just ran out of gas."

NOTES: The Clippers entered the night third in the NBA in fewest turnovers and committed just 11. ... Barea became just the fourth Wolves player in the last 15 years to register a point-assist double-double in the first half. ... Adelman and Clippers coach Vinny Del Negro each picked up a technical foul in the third quarter for bickering with the officials. ... After scoring 27 points against the Nuggets, Wolves rookie Derrick Williams had just four points on 1-for-7 shooting.

Notebook: Clippers 95, Timberwolves 82

Posted Thursday April 12, 2012 11:57PM

By Phil Miller, for NBA.com

THE FACTS: Without Ricky Rubio, without Luke Ridnour, and now without Kevin Love, the Minnesota Timberwolves had little chance Thursday of completing a season sweep of the Los Angeles Clippers, who used defense to pull away for a 95-82 victory in Target Center and tighten their grip on homecourt advantage in the postseason.

Blake Griffin scored 19 points, Caron Butler added 17 and Mo Williams returned from injury with 14 points as the Clippers followed Wednesday's thrilling victory in Oklahoma City with a much easier victory in Minneapolis. The Wolves had won the first three meetings this season, and were hoping to complete their first four-game sweep since 2004, but those chances became remote once Kevin Love remained behind in Denver on Wednesday after being diagnosed with a mild concussion.

Without three starters, including the NBA's fourth-leading scorer (26.0 points per game) and second-leading rebounder (13.3), the Wolves got 17 points from Nikola Pekovic, 16 from Anthony Randolph -- the first time he's reached double digits in back-to-back games this season -- and 14 from Michael Beasley. But after remaining competitive for a half, Minnesota crumpled under L.A.'s defense in the second half, making only 27 percent of its shots and scoring just 14 points in the fourth quarter.

The victory, the Clippers' 10th in the past 12 games, increased their lead to 1 1/2 games over Memphis, which lost at San Antonio, in the race for fourth place and homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs. It also pulled Los Angeles within one game of its neighbors, the Lakers, for third place. Minnesota was officially knocked out of the playoff race with the loss.

QUOTABLE: "I have no idea what happened there. I got stuck in the wrong place at the wrong time, I guess. But we've been talking about tightening up our defense."
-- Clippers forward Blake Griffin, joking about drawing offensive fouls on Minnesota rookie Derrick Williams twice within a 65-second span in the fourth quarter.

THE STAT: 8 -- Stitches required to close a cut on Minnesota guard J.J. Barea's lip, symbolic of the physical defense that the Clippers used on the Kevin Love-less Wolves offense.

TURNING POINT: Despite missing starters Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and Luke Ridnour, the Wolves held an improbable three-point lead with three minutes remaining in the first half when guard J.J. Barea was struck in the face by Chris Paul's elbow, drawing blood and sending him to the locker room for stitches. He returned for the second half, but the Wolves' offensive momentum had been lost. Minnesota made 52.5 percent of its field-goal tries in the first half, and 27.0 percent in the second half.

QUOTABLE II: "It can't get any worse, man. Can't get any worse."
-- Wolves guard J.J. Barea, after Minnesota lost its seventh consecutive game

HOT: Kenyon Martin is providing valuable defense around the basket, but his shot has come around lately, too. Martin made all four shots he took on Thursday, giving him a 60.7 percent success rate (17-for-28) over the past five games.

NOT: The Timberwolves' playoff history. By losing their seventh straight game -- and 24th in a row in April -- the Wolves were mathematically eliminated from the Western Conference playoff race, the eighth consecutive year they have failed to reach the postseason. That's the longest current streak in the NBA.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Mo Williams had not played in three weeks, missing 11 games with a sprained big toe. But the backup point guard chipped in 14 points on 6-for-11 shooting and five assists in his first game back for the Clippers, and coach Vinny Del Negro, citing the way Williams changes the tempo of the game, said he expects to lean on Williams for important minutes down the stretch.

INSIDE THE ARENA: Wolves guard Ricky Rubio returned to Target Center for the first time since tearing a ligament in his knee and undergoing surgery to repair it. Minnesota is now 4-15 without the rookie guard.

GOOD MOVE: Minnesota trailed by as many as 13 points in the third quarter, but by the end of the period, the Clippers' lead was just five. In the L.A. huddle, coach Vinny Del Negro inserted Blake Griffin back into the lineup and emphasized to his team that if the Clippers were going to win, it was going to be because of their defense. His players took that message to heart, because after scoring on a putback on their first possession of the third quarter, the Wolves managed only one basket in the next seven minutes, going 1-for-8 from the field with four turnovers -- two of them on charges drawn by Griffin -- as L.A. went on a 17-4 run and widened its lead to 17 points.

BAD MOVE: As the game turned physical, both teams complained to the officials, with Minnesota guard J.J. Barea at one point breaking off a play he was running in order to dribble over to James Capers to complain, as the clock ran. The result? Barea was called for an offensive foul on the Wolves' next possession, and coach Rick Adelman was given a technical foul when he protested the play.

ROOKIE WATCH: One night after equaling his career-high with 27 points in Denver, Wolves rookie Derrick Williams suffered the typical wild swing of a rookie, this time by being humbled by the defense of Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and the Clippers. Williams, stepping into the starting lineup with Kevin Love out, made 1-for-7 shots from the field, didn't collect an offensive rebound, and committed four turnovers, including back-to-back offensive fouls in the fourth quarter.

NOTABLE: Love was released from a Denver hospital on Thursday and flew back to Minnesota. The All-Star forward, who suffered a mild concussion when he was inadvertently struck by Nuggets' forward JaVale McGee's elbow, will be evaluated further over the next few days, though the chances of him playing again, with six games remaining in the season, appear doubtful. ... Point guard Luke Ridnour had hoped to return to the lineup after missing five games with a sprained right ankle, but after testing it Thursday, the team decided to hold him out again. Shooting guard Wayne Ellington also missed his second straight game with back spasms. ... With Mo Williams' return to action, Clippers guard Chris Paul played only 28:48, his fewest minutes since Feb. 4. ... The Clippers are now 15-14 on the road this season. They have not finished above .500 on road since moving to Los Angeles in 1984. ... The Timberwolves have lost 24 consecutive games in April, including seven in a row this year, a streak of futility that dates back to a 105-97 victory over Golden State on April 8, 2009. ... J.J. Barea had 10 points and 10 assists in the first half, only the fourth player in Wolves history to record such a double-double by halftime. Barea has made 12 of his last 23 3-point shots.

UP NEXT: For the Clippers, Saturday vs. Golden State, Monday vs. Oklahoma City, Wednesday @ Denver. For the Timberwolves, Saturday vs. Oklahoma City, Monday @ Indiana, Tuesday vs. Memphis.

• Clippers: Billups, Leslie
• Timberwolves: Ridnour, Rubio

• Clippers: Del Negro
• Timberwolves: Adelman

• Lead Changes: 8
• Times Tied: 4

• Arena: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
• Officials: #19 James Capers, #74 Curtis Blair, #26 Pat Fraher
• Attendance: 16016
• Duration: 2:05