George, Leonard Relentless, LA Clippers Defeat Minnesota Timberwolves, 124-117

Paul George and Kawhi Leonard have been unstoppable in LA Clippers’ win over Minnesota Timberwolves, 124-117. The two superstars who arrived in LA this summers scored 88 points combined, leading their team to its 20th win of the season.

The two became the first teammates in the Clippers history to score 40+points in one game. PG had 46 with 7 boards and 5 rebounds, shooting 17 for 31 from the field and hitting 6 threes. Meanwhile, Kawhi added 42 buckets, with 11 rebounds, and hitting 19 straight free throws without a miss. It is the franchise record for the team from LA.

“We knew we had to come out and be aggressive… That was the key tonight. Be aggressive early & get us off on the right foot,” said George following the game.

Season-highs from @Yg_Trece (46 PTS) & Kawhi Leonard (42 PTS) steer the @LAClippers to the win in Minneapolis! #ClipperNation pic.twitter.com/3rUg4CpbrC

— NBA (@NBA) December 14, 2019

Although having a 27-point lead in the late part of the third, the guests from the City of Angels allowed for the Timberwolves to come back and to create troubles in the final period, making this contest an interesting one right out of nowhere.

“We had a lot of bad turnovers that caused the slippage, but we stuck to it, we stayed aggressive, found open guys, we had some good looks straight down the stretch, and made some big plays,” George added.

With 4:55 left, Karl-Anthony Towns hit a three and was fouled by Leonard, for a four-point play, which brought Minnesota to 111-106. By the way, KAT was superb in the final period dropping 18 points and tearing apart the Clippers’ defense.

The Clippers somehow managed to rebuff Timberwolves’ attack and to close this game in their favor. Montrezl Harrell delivered six points in the last few minutes to keep the distance and to seal the win for this team in this one.

Except for two situations early in the opening period of the event, the team from LA was constantly leading. They would reach a double-digit edge in the first 30-18, but the hosts reached them midway in the second. From that moment on, the Clippers became ruthless and punished every mistake Minnesota made, pouring 37 points in the third quarter. Those 27 points of the advantage came following Leonard’s free throw with 6:40 left in that sequence for the result 81-64.

Towns finished with 39 points, 12 boards, making 5 three-pointers. Andrew Wiggins scored 34, while Jeff Teague contributed with 22 points off the bench. Minnesota was dominant in the paint scoring 54 buckets and on the other side, allowing just 38. However, that didn’t help them too much, because KAT alone couldn’t make a difference. Wiggins did score a lot of points, but his contribution in other categories was too small.

Among the Clippers, the only one with 10 or more points besides the above-mentioned duo was Harrell who scored 18. Lou Williams didn’t play due to an injury.

The team from LA (20-7) now travels to Chicago to play the second of their back-to-back games this Saturday night. After that, Doc Rivers’ side meets James Harden and his Houston Rockets. They have four straight win on the road, against Washington, Indiana, Toronto and now Minnesota. They’ve also broke the .500 away from the Staples Center.

As for the Timberwolves (10-15), they are 3-9 at home, and are much better when playing on the road. It is something odd, but it appears that this team can’t deal with the pressure imposed by their own fans. Up next, they host the New Orleans Pelicans next Wednesday, before starting a four-game tour during which they visit Denver, Portland, Golden State, and Sacramento.