The story for the Clippers on Wednesday night was their list of injured players. Yet even without four key players, the Clippers had no choice but to push on against the Minnesota Timberwolves at the Intuit Dome.
The problem was the Timberwolves pushed back harder, leading by as many as 41 in a 108-80 win.
Playing seven games in 11 days hasn’t helped the Clippers weather their injury issues.
So when Clippers coach Tyronn Lue sat down at the podium to speak to the media, he smiled and quickly said this about the 28-point beatdown:
“I’m flushing it,” Lue said.
His team was playing its third game in four nights, and this one was a back-to-back.
“We just didn’t have a lot of pop,” Lue said. “Missing three of our four rotation guys. [Minnesota] came out and played well.”
Kawhi Leonard has yet to play this season as his right knee recovers. He was joined on the bench Wednesday by Terance Mann, Norman Powell, Kevin Porter Jr. and Kobe Brown.
The Clippers said Mann has a fractured left middle finger and will have surgery Thursday and be reevaluated in three weeks. Brown has a herniated disk in his back and will be reevaluated in two weeks.
Porter missed his third consecutive game because of a sprained left ankle and Powell, the Clippers’ leading scorer (23.9 points per game), rested after he played two straight games — including the night before — after missing the previous six because of a left hamstring injury.
Clippers forward Derrick Jones Jr. drives to the basket in front of Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert during the first half Wednesday.
(Eric Thayer / Associated Press)
The Clippers have three days off before playing the Houston Rockets at home Sunday.
“This is a good time for us,” Lue said. “I think playing every day, or every other day for the whole month of November was a hard schedule. But our guys fought through it. What, we’re 14-10? Twenty-four games in 43 days. I thought our guys really took the challenge every single night and this was the only game I really thought got away from us from start to finish, and that happens.”
From the start, the Clippers could see it was going to be a long night.
They were held to 14 points in the first quarter, shooting just 27.3% from the field and 15.4% (two for 13) from three-point range. They scored 32 points in the first half, shooting 28.6% overall and 21.7% from three.
Meanwhile, the Clippers gave up 33 points in the first quarter. Minnesota shot 54.2% from the field and 46.7% (seven for 15) on threes. Forward Julius Randle scored 16 of his 20 points in the quarter.
“Julius got them going, got off to a good early start,” Lue said. “And we couldn’t score the basketball.
“It’s kind of hard when you play from behind, you can’t score and you can’t make a shot. … They came out and punched us in our mouth and we weren’t ready to go.”
James Harden missed his first eight attempts, four of them three-pointers. He scored his first points on two free throws late in the second quarter. He made his first field goal with 6 minutes 21 seconds left in the third, on a three.
He completed his night going one for 10 from the field and one for six from three-point range, scoring a season-low five points after coming in averaging 22.3.
Backup guard Bones Hyland led the Clippers with 18 points.
“We just didn’t play well,” Lue said. “Like I said, that was probably one of the only games of the season where we just really couldn’t score, we couldn’t defend and we were a step slow. So, it happens. It’ll probably happen a few more times before the end of the season. But it’s just how you handle it, how you bounce back from it.”
