Griffin Flirts With Triple-Double In Clippers Win Over T'Wolves
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Blake Griffin scored 12 of his 26 points in the final 6:32, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out seven assists to lead the Los Angeles Clippers to a 107-99 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Sunday.
Chris Paul had 20 points and nine assists, and J.J. Redick added 18 points for the Clippers, who beat the Timberwolves for the 13th consecutive time and seventh straight at Staples Center.
The Clippers tied their longest winning streak against any opponent in franchise history. They had a 13-game streak against Utah that ended on Wednesday with a 102-91 loss.
Minnesota's last victory over the Clippers was on March 5, 2012, when Kevin Love had 39 points and 17 rebounds in a 95-94 win at Target Center.
Andrew Wiggins scored 21 points for the Wolves, who had won their previous three games.
Former Timberwolves small forward Luc Mbah a Moute, who signed with the Clippers in September as a free agent, made his first start of the season and had seven points in 24 minutes after playing 14 games as a reserve. The eight-year veteran from UCLA started 61 games last season with Philadelphia.
Kevin Garnett played 15 scoreless minutes after getting into early foul trouble and was 0 for 5 from the field. Karl-Anthony Towns, the first overall pick in the draft, had 17 points and eight rebounds.
Point guard Ricky Rubio sat out his second straight game because of soreness in his left ankle. Former UCLA product Zach LaVine started in his place, missing his first six shots and finishing 6 for 15 with 18 points and seven assists.
An ugly first half at both ends of the court ended with Los Angeles leading 48-37 and the teams even in turnovers with nine apiece. Clippers center DeAndre Jordan shot two airballs from the free throw line 20.2 seconds before intermission. He finished with nine points and nine rebounds, after averaging 13.5 points and 18.0 boards over the previous four meetings between the teams.
Garnett went to the bench with 5:37 left in the first quarter after picking up his third foul. The Timberwolves led 15-9 at that point, and were trailing 36-30 when the 15-time All-Star reported back in with 4:06 left in the first half.
Minnesota forward Nemanja Bjelica had 10 points in 22 minutes after missing four games because of a bruised left knee. He was posterized on a slam dunk by Griffin with 5:34 left in the second quarter, and responded with a 3-pointer 29 seconds later.
TIP-INS
Timberwolves: Garnett still needs nine points to reach the 26,000 mark. His former Celtics and Nets teammate, Clippers F Paul Pierce, is 23 away from joining him on that list. . Towns is the only player to start all 17 games for the Wolves. He entered Sunday averaging 14.2 points, second among rookies behind Jahlil Okafor's 18.0 per game with Philadelphia. Okafor went third in the draft.
Clippers: Mbah a Moute was the fourth player this season to start at the 3 spot for coach Doc Rivers, who has used eight different starting lineups. The others were Pierce, Lance Stephenson and Wesley Johnson. ... The Clippers, coming off a 111-90 home victory over New Orleans on Friday, have won consecutive games for the first time since their season-opening four-game winning streak. . The Clippers, who shot 52.0 percent, have won 49 consecutive games in which they finished at least 50 percent from the field. . Jamal Crawford played 15 scoreless minutes, missing all four shots.
UP NEXT:
Timberwolves: Host Orlando on Tuesday night.
Clippers: Host Portland on Monday night.
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