Derrick Williams and Michael Beasley star as Minnesota Timberwolves down Los Angeles Clippers - NBA Recap
When two elite teams are playing each other, usually the game is decided in the final quarter.
On Tuesday night in a clash between Minnesota Timberwolves and Los Angeles Clippers, the trend continued.
Clippers dominated the first three quarters and were on their way to a win. Minnesota thought came back magnificently in the final frame; outscoring the Clippers 36-21 to seal the 109 – 97 victory.
Clippers entered the final frame with a 3 point lead 76-73, however the lead was only short lived as Timberwolves Derrick Williams drilled a three in the opening minute of the final quarter to make it 76 all. Next two minutes were highly exciting as neither
team managed to dominate the proceedings. With scores tied at 80 all, Williams got into action yet again and fuelled a 10-2 spurt, capped by a downtown strike to take Minnesota ahead by 90-82.
This was followed by yet another game deciding 14-5 spurt by Minnesota that turned the momentum completely to their side. Clippers were stunned with the onslaught and did not quite manage to make any sort of a comeback. By the final buzzer, they were down
in disappointment, wondering what went wrong in the final quarter.
Williams and Michael Beasley were the clear stars tonight.
Both pounded 27 points each on a near perfect shooting including a combined 20 for 25 from the floor and an accurate 7 for 7 from downtown.
"We were knocking down open shots, taking what the defence gave us and just letting the ball flow," Beasley said. "We did a lot of penetrating and kicking out. Those guys like to block shots, so when you've got two or three guys going after one block, that
means you have two guys open for jump shots. It's kind of hard to go from the rim back out to the perimeter and contest those shots."
Nikola Pekovic netted 12 points while Martell Webster tallied 11 points for Timberwolves. Minnesota’s star Kevin Love failed to make an impact tonight and finished with only 10 points on a poor 4 for 13 from the floor.
Timberwolves were accurate with their shooting and knocked down a healthy 51.2% from the floor.
Blake Griffin starred for the Clippers.
He finished with a game high 30 points on 10 for 14 from the charity stripe and 7 boards while Chris Paul accumulated 27 points, 4 boards and 6 assists. DeAndre Jordan had a double-double with 14 points and 14 rebounds and guard Randy Foye chipped in with
13 points.
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