Clippers sloppy, short-handed lose to Timberwolves – San Bernardino Sun

LOS ANGELES – The game of giving, then losing.

Or maybe it was just the Clippers giving away – they fell apart after a nasty win in Brooklyn on Saturday with 21 spins on Monday night, blunders that led to 31 Minnesota points and helped determine their fate in 122-104 loss to the Timberwolves at Crypto.com Arena.

For the first time in four meetings this season, Minnesota – and former Clippers goalkeeper Patrick Beverley – have played better of them all.

Beverley spent the game appreciating his former teammates wherever he went. The 6-foot-1 Chicagoan with unsurpassed energy made him a star in his 4 seasons with the Clippers notching up 11 points, 12 career-high assists and a couple of hits. steal.

He also helped keep Clippers keeper Reggie Jackson to 5 points and Eric Bledsoe – who just won a season-high 27 – with 1 point and 6 spins.

The loss broke Jackson’s 19-game individual winning streak against Minnesota, dating back to 2013, longer than any other running streak in the NBA. He averaged 23.3 points in the Clippers’ first three wins over the Wolves.

“I feel good locking Reggie and Eric today,” Beverley said after the game.

Brian Shaw, the Clippers head coach who will replace Tyronn Lue, who missed the third game in COVIF-19 health and safety protocol, said.

“He always brings energy,” Shaw said. “He’s the kind of guy that when he’s on your team, you love him. And when he’s on the opposing team, you just can’t stand him. But he knows how to push the buttons of the boys on this team and get everyone’s attention. That’s what he did, but his energy passed on to their team. And that’s a difference. ”

The point guard then made some glaring comments during his post-match press conference about his motivation against the Clippers, suggesting his tackles were not appreciated in LA

“I have a coach that trusts me,” he said of Wolves Coach Chris Finch, who was an assistant coach in Houston when Beverley played there. “Obviously he’s known me for a long time, ever since I worked for the Rockets. He knows my abilities, my cans – I can’t say cannons, I played my (butt) this year – but my cans. He just believes in the ball and I’m trying to make the right decisions.

“For some reason, a lot of coaches didn’t trust me to serve before, maybe because I played with too many superstars, so maybe there weren’t many basketballs to play around with, but I there’s already a coach here that trusts me, who trusts me and anyone who knows me, I’m going to run over the wall for Finchy, so I don’t want to let him down. ”

Beverley had something to say about every big moment on Monday, it seemed: When his team took a 20-point lead for the first time, for example, that was when he dribbled the ball into Serge Ibaka’s center. to push the advantage to 62-42 with 1:51 left on the second period.

And after 10 days of Clippers signing, Xavier Moon (13 points) hit three in a row to help them cut time to cut the shortfall to 15 points – 90-75 – with 9:38 to come in. fourth quarter, Anthony Edwards’ Pointer 3 followed by a Beverley steal and a Beverley assist for Taurean Prince moved momentum back to Minnesota, where it remained.

Beverley then sent many of his 15,959 fans online for matches with just over five minutes left, when he sank two free throws (after a rough foul on James Ennis III). ) and then took a shot and fouled Moon for and-1 which gave it the lead to 109-84.

After his inspirational contributions Monday, Beverley told reporters he feels “despised” with the Clippers.

“Especially,” he said, “when you have people like Kawhi and PG who are overrated for everything. But it’s always when I go to another team, that’s when you see how my work with the current team is. That’s what it is. What I do is very underrated, but the Timberwolves appreciate it, and that’s all that matters.”

Lue, two assistant coaches and three players are also following health and safety regulations – plus their five-player squad is on the injured list, a unit that includes star stars Kawhi Leonard (ACL) and Paul George (elbow) – couldn’t make it to this latest reunion with Beverley.

The Clippers team was even more depleted on Saturday as reserve guard Jay Scrubb was still on the protocols – but they caused a staggering disappointment for the rest of the Nets, which are almost fully staffed and very favored.

But they only had 11 penalty shootouts in Brooklyn – 11 fewer than Monday’s in LA against a Timberwolves that turned those mistakes into 31 points.

The Wolves (17-20) were missing two of their top three scorers ahead of big man Karl-Anthony Towns (24.5 points per game) and point guard D’Angelo Russell (18, 7 points), who still need to strengthen their conditions after leaving the protocols.

Minnesota also played its second game at Crypto.com Arena in two nights following a 108-103 loss to the Lakers on Sunday — when they fell victim to revenue errors, recording a season-high 23 of them.

They committed 17 on Monday, leading to the Clippers’ 24 points.

Wolves’ Edwards finished with a top 28 in the game against the Clippers. And Naz Reid – who shot 34.7% in 10 games before Sunday’s loss to the Lakers, whom he shot 10 to 17 on his way to a season-high 23, followed Monday by scoring 6. 9 and finished as one of six Wolves in double form, with 13 points. Prince peaked season 17.

Minnesota dominated in paint, where it edged the Clippers 64-42.

Serge Ibaka is the perfect No. 7 for No. 7 from the pitch to score 17 points in 20 minutes in his top flight. And the top 15 points of Justise Winslow’s season when scoring 7 for 10 coming on from the bench is also a bright spot in the home team’s attack.

Otherwise, the Clippers (19-19) get 12 points from Marcus Morris Sr. and 10 make up Ennis, who, like Moon, is one of three to hold the Clippers’ interim lineup alongside Wenyen Gabriel (who goes 1 to 5, scored two points and won three rebounds).

“You have to learn from it, like any game, there are wins you can learn from, there are losses you can learn from it,” Winslow said. “We have to learn from it, figure out what we can do better, but there are a lot of games you have to keep going. You don’t want to be too careless and throw it away, but look at it, dissect it a bit.”

And once they’ve ruminated a bit about Monday’s loss, what can that tell them?

“You have to wear it every night in this tournament,” Winslow said. “All the boys, even the non-players, they have to come in and not cheer but you have to be in the game… Energy is a big part of that and we definitely pay attention to each and every one of them. detail.”