The road-weary Timberwolves finish off a four-game road trip with a contest against the Clippers in the second game of a back-to-back set. At least the T-Wolves didn’t have to travel far since the front end of the set was in the same building. Minnesota has played the Clips tough in the season series, losing both games by a combined 12 points while going 1-0-1 ATS.
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SCHEDULING
The road hasn’t been kind to the Timberwolves this season, losers of 11 straight away from the Twin Cities heading into their back-to-back with the Los Angeles teams. They have a chance to end that slide with a contest against the Lakers Tuesday before squaring off with the Clippers. The task of beating the Clippers is even more imposing considering the Timberwolves are 0-8 SU in the second game of their back-to-back sets this season. They are 3-5 ATS in such games
The Clippers will make the job difficult as well. They’ve had two days off since defeating the Bulls at Staples Center on Sunday for their fourth straight victory. The Clips have gone 25-8 since starting the season 7-8 and are 15-3 without Blake Griffin, who last played on Christmas before being shelved with injuries. The Clippers pulled out a pair of close victories over Minnesota earlier in the season, posting a 107-99 win in Staples on Nov. 29 and squeaking out a 110-106 road win on Dec. 7.
INJURIES
Kevin Garnett hasn’t played since Jan. 23 as he continues to battle soreness in his aging knees and is day-to-day in advance of the Clippers game. Also, guard Kevin Martin has missed the past several games with a sore wrist. He is questionable heading into the Los Angeles trip.
The Clippers will be without Blake Griffin likely until the end of March as he recovers from surgery on his broken hand. The good news is that the quadriceps injury that originally sidelined him on Christmas has healed.
KEY MATCHUP
The Clippers are doing all sorts of strange things these days. They’re using lineups that include four guards, asking shooting guards to play power forward, and giving up a handful of inches defensively at several positions. One thing that hasn’t changed: DeAndre Jordan is still manning center. Jordan’s presence has led to consistency in the won-loss column even with Griffin sidelined. The Clippers’ 120-93 victory over the Bulls on Sunday was their fourth straight and they improved to 15-3 without Griffin in the lineup. Jordan was a factor in almost every category against the Bulls, snagging 20 rebounds to go with 17 points, four assists, four blocks and one steal. He even made five of eight free throws, including four of six while being intentionally fouled. Jordan has experienced a spike in scoring and rebounds since Griffin last played. The center has averaged 13.6 points and 15.0 rebounds since Dec. 26. And with Griffin out another six to eight weeks, the numbers could improve even more.
ANALYSIS AND ODDS PREDICTION
The Clippers addressed their bench concerns during the off-season, and appeared to have those issues solved. It didn’t work out at the beginning of the year, but the reserves have been a key to the basketball team’s resurgence over the past two months. The loss of Griffin forced coach Doc Rivers to adjust his rotation, putting Paul Pierce in the starting five with solid production from Luc Richard Mbah a Moute up front. Jamal Crawford and Austin Rivers have solidified the second unit and the Clippers have done just fine without their star power forward. The team isn’t relying on just a few players to provide the offense, and in turn the entire roster has picked up its game. Thanks to Griffin being out, the Clippers have become a better team.
Los Angeles 117, Minnesota 106
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