The Los Angeles Clippers (7-4) might be starting to figure things out as they now have a six-game winning streak heading into Saturday night’s game against the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves (4-7).
Clippers vs. Timberwolves Game Information
Where: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
When: 7:30 p.m. PT
How to Tune in: Bally Sports SoCal, NBA League Pass
Projected Starting Lineups
L.A. Clippers: Reggie Jackson – Eric Bledsoe – Paul George – Nicolas Batum – Ivica Zubac
Minnesota Timberwolves: D’Angelo Russell – Patrick Beverley – Anthony Edwards – Jaden McDaniels – Karl-Anthony Towns
Injury Report
L.A. Clippers: Kawhi Leonard – right knee; ACL reconstruction – injury recovery, Marcus Morris Sr. – left knee; injury maintenance, Jason Preston – right foot surgery; injury recovery, Brandon Boston Jr. – G League Assignment, Serge Ibaka – G League Assignment, Keon Johnson – left ankle sprain
Minnesota Timberwolves: McKinley Wright IV – G League Assignment
The Big Picture
After a rocky start to the season, the Clippers have seemingly found something that works. They’re on a six-game win streak and just beat a quality opponent in the Miami Heat. Paul George was named the Western Conference Player of the Week for games played the week of Nov. 1-Nov. 7. He’s third in the league in scoring at 26.7 points per game and he’s been just as impressive on the defensive end. Against the Heat, he came up with a huge defensive stop on Bam Adebayo to help seal the win.
The Clippers role players have started to look much like they did last season as well. In the past five games, Reggie Jackson has put up 22.6 points per game on 48.2 percent shooting from the field. Ironically, it was against these same Wolves on the road that Jackson broke out of his slump to start the season. Nicolas Batum has been the most dependable player on the team outside of George with his ball movement, three-point shooting, and defensive ability. Against the Heat, he came up with the deflection while covering Adebayo that effectively sealed the win.
Off the bench, Terance Mann and Luke Kennard have brought the energy and intensity that head coach Tyronn Lue has asked for. Kennard is shooting 44.9 percent from three-point range and has done a good job “hunting” for his shot as the coaching staff has asked him to. Mann is averaging a career-high 9.7 points per game and he just had one of his best performances of the season against the Charlotte Hornets with 17 points and 10 rebounds.
The Antagonist
The Minnesota Timberwolves have been a team that’s been mired in mediocrity for quite some time now and this season doesn’t appear to be the year things change for them. They’re currently wallowing near the bottom of the Western Conference standings just above the Houston Rockets and the New Orleans Pelicans who both have only one win each.
They have one of the league’s most underappreciated stars in Karl-Anthony Towns, and one the top up and coming stars in Anthony Edwards. They just can’t seem to find any sort of consistency. Chris Finch is in his first year as head coach and the roster overall is not that bad on paper. They have a nice mix of veterans with former Clipper fan favorite Patrick Beverley, Taurean Prince and Malik Beasley, and some promising young talent in Jaden McDaniels, Jarred Vanderbilt and Naz Reid to go alongside Towns and Edwards.
They’ll be coming off a back-to-back against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday night so the Clippers will have the advantage of being fresh. However, the Wolves to have some momentum, having destroyed the Lakers in Staples last night.
Clippers vs. Timberwolves Game Notes:
- The Clippers slow starts continue: Against the Heat, the Clippers found themselves down by 17 points in the first half before mounting a rally to get back in the game and ultimately pull off the win. Once again, Tyronn Lue had to go to his bench, Luke Kennard in particular, to spark the run. It doesn’t matter what the Wolves record is – a slow start should be avoided.
- Eric Bledsoe might be getting settled: Aside from his Game 1 performance against the Golden State Warriors, Bledsoe hasn’t had much of an impact this season. The past couple of games though, while his numbers might not jump off the stat sheet, he’s been progressively getting better. He had a breakout game of sorts against Miami with 22 points on 56.3 percent shooting. This type of efficient Bledsoe with the same level of aggressiveness is what the Clippers need from him. His productivity helps ease the burden off George and Jackson and would go a long way to stop the slow starts.
- Slowing down Anthony Edwards is key: Edwards is one of the top rising stars of the league and he’s coming off a career-high 48 points in a loss to the Warriors in which he shot 59.3 percent from the field including 53.8 percent from three-point range. He also had six rebounds, five assists and two steals. In the previous two games against the Clippers, Edwards put up 22.5 points. They were able to slow him down though in the second game, holding him to only 17 points on 7-22 shooting. Nic Batum will likely get the start on him and keeping him in check is key