The Minnesota Timberwolves will hit the road — where some recent struggles have manifested themselves — when they challenge the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday night at Inglewood, Calif.
The Timberwolves were on a four-game losing streak last week and had lost seven of nine overall when Minnesota star Anthony Edwards criticized his own team for its selfish ways. Among those seven defeats, four came on the road.
After Edwards made his concerns known, the Timberwolves showed some resilience in a 93-92 victory over the visiting Clippers on Friday and a 109-80 win against the Los Angeles Lakers on Monday.
With Edwards having an off night with eight points on 3-of-13 shooting from the field against the Lakers, Julius Randle scored 18 points and Rudy Gobert added 17 points with 12 rebounds. Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Naz Reid each had 15 points off the bench.
“Guys are in a good place mentally,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said after the victory. “A lot of things have been said in the locker room with great purpose and meaning, and guys have taken it to heart and still maintained a good camaraderie, a good spirit and positivity around all that.”
Among the things said was Edwards’ assessment that the Wolves were “just a bunch of little kids” for their lack of communication. The Team USA member at the Paris Olympics called his own squad “soft.”
The Timberwolves will need some toughness Wednesday in order to pull off a second victory against the Clippers’ hard-nosed defense in a span of six days.
The Clippers enter off a 127-105 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday in an outcome that extended Los Angeles’ home winning streak to nine games.
Norman Powell scored 30 points in his second game back from a hamstring injury. James Harden added 23 points and seven assists for Los Angeles, which shot 51.4 percent (19 of 37) from 3-point range.
With Paul George now playing for the Philadelphia 76ers and Kawhi Leonard dealing with a knee injury, Powell has been thrust into a leading scorer role. Powell has thrived by averaging a team-best 23.9 points per game.
Even a six-game injury absence couldn’t slow his scoring charge.
“People can see his work finally starting to pay off, being a scorer, scoring the basketball like he’s doing, getting the kind of attention he’s getting,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said of Powell. “He’s wanted to prove to people that he’s a starter … and he’s taken advantage of it.”
When the Clippers lost their first four games in their new arena, one of the defeats was to Portland. They avenged that setback Tuesday by being more offensive-minded than defensive.
“I thought we really read the defense (against Portland) and made the right plays,” Lue said. “Having 29 assists, and for us to be able to handle their pressure, that was good for us.”
The Clippers played their second consecutive game Tuesday without Kevin Porter Jr. (ankle), while Terance Mann departed in the third quarter and was diagnosed with a fractured middle finger on his left hand.
