In the Crypto.com Arena, the Clippers lost 104-109 against the Minnesota Timberwolves on Tuesday night. With this defeat, the Angelenos are one foot out of the playoffs and will have to face the loser between New Orleans Pelicans vs San Anthony Spurs for the last place in the next phase of the 2021-2022 season.
The Timberwolves entered the game with a regular season of 46 wins and 36 losses that left them in seventh place in the Western Conference. For the Play-In tournament they played with a full team, the most important players of the team are the current champion of the triple contest, Karl-Anthony Towns and second-year forward Anthony Edwards. For the matchup, Minnesota was the favorite team to win the game, due to their better position in the conference and that they would play at home.
The Angeles Clippers they entered the Play-In tournament for being the eighth best team in the western conference and that they obtained for getting 42 games won and 40 lost during the regular season. They arrived at the meeting prepared and with their star Paul George recovered from his injury. LA wanted to surprise the game and be able to secure their entry to the playoffs.
As the game began, Minnesota quickly attacked the paint and took the lead in the first minute of the game. However, LA would not let them lose and with a run from 10 to 2 points, they forced the Timberwolves to request a time out. Returning, both teams played very evenly and did not allow the score to rise. At the end of the first quarter, the Angelenos took advantage of 6 points, it is necessary to highlight the 6 points of Paul George and 7 points of Norman Powell for the. It was clear that it was a game very different from one of the regular season, there were very strong defenses that did not make it easy to score and there was a very strong tension in the game.
In the second quarter, the game was still close and despite the fact that the Angelenos had the advantage, the Timberwolves did not get away from them and they kept fighting. With three minutes left in the fourth, Minnesota closed within a point of the Angelenos and forced LA coach Tyronn Lue to call a timeout. Returning to the game, Minnesota took a small lead and were up 2 points at halftime. For the first half, the Timberwolves worried about the number of fouls from Anthony Edwards (3), Karl-Anthony Towns (4) and Patrick Beverly (3).
Returning from the break, the game kept up the intensity and neither team took the lead. In minute 7, the match was tied again and everything indicated that the match would be defined in the last quarter. Los Angeles took control of the game in the third quarter and went into the final half with a 6-point lead.
Last part, the game was very close and neither team gave in. KAT leaves the game after getting the sixth foul from him, in a terrible game for the center who only got 11 points and a better performance was expected from him. With 4 minutes to go, Minnesota was up 4 points and the Clippers called a timeout to order the defense. Despite LA’s attempts to recover the score, they were unsuccessful and ended up losing 104-109.
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The Minnesota Timberwolves get their ticket to the playoffs and will have to face the second in the Western Conference in a battle against the first to 4 games won. The first game of the series against the Memphis Grizzlies will be on Saturday, April 16.
Excellent game by D’Angelo Russel who had 29 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds and 3 steals in 37 minutes played. The other star of the game is the forward, Anthony Edwards who has 30 points, 2 assists, 5 rebounds and a steal.
On the other side, we must highlight the LA player, Paul George who had 34 points, 5 assists and 7 rebounds. It was also a good game for Reggie Jackson aka Mr. June who, with 42 minutes played, had 17 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
Los Angeles will have to prepare for their next opportunity to enter the playoffs, their rival for Friday, April 15 will be defined in the New York match Orleans Pelicans vs San Anthony Spurs. LA will have two days to prepare for its next home game.
