LOS ANGELES (AP) – Karl-Anthony Towns scored 24 points, Anthony Edwards added 23 and the Minnesota Timberwolves pulled away in the second half for a 121-100 win over the Los Angeles Clippers in a top-two matchup on Monday night. . Teams in the Western Conference.
Rudy Gobert had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds as the Timberwolves (37-16) remained on top of the Western Conference with their third win in the last four games.
This is the 10th time the Timberwolves have won this season despite trailing at halftime, second in the NBA.
“I don’t think we brought enough strength or physicality to the game in the first half. Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said, I thought we played good basketball, but there were a lot of games where they were more physical than us. “All credit goes to the people. They recognize this and set the tone at the beginning of the second half.
The Timberwolves trailed 53–49 at halftime, but took control in the third quarter and outscored the Clippers 40–19.
“We’re doing a good job of staying focused. “We listen to the coach and do a good job in the third quarter of watching him adjust and not giving him the same type of punishment,” Towns said.
Minnesota started the second half with eight consecutive points, but did not achieve it until midway through the third quarter.
Minnesota trailed 64–62 midway through the quarter and went on a 27–8 run heading into the third.
The Timberwolves had a 12–2 lead to close the quarter as Towns scored eight consecutive points and Edwards had a reverse layup to give them an 89–72 advantage heading into the fourth quarter.
Minnesota was 12 of 19 from the field in the quarter. Edwards and Towns were both 6 of 6 from the line as the Timberwolves made all 13 of their foul shots in the period.
Meanwhile, the Clippers were 7 of 20 from the field and committed five turnovers that resulted in six Minnesota points.
“We were playing very well in the first half. We were just missing a little extra effort and giving them rebounds. Once we cleared that out, we had great defensive possessions and we were able to run on them,” Gobert said.
The Timberwolves’ largest lead was 24 points during the fourth quarter.
Paul George and Kawhi Leonard led the Clippers with 18 points each, and James Harden added 17 points.
George became the Clippers’ career 3-point leader with 7:23 remaining in the third quarter, scoring his 739th, passing Eric Piatkowski.
They played better than us. Outcoached us, outplayed us and everything,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said. “I thought they were better just with the physicality and attention to detail.”
Los Angeles, which is 27-7 since the beginning of December, is in third place in the Western Conference with a 35-17 record.
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Timberwolves: Start two consecutive games at Portland Tuesday.
Clippers: Wednesday at Golden State.
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