Julius Randle scored 16 of his 20 points in the first quarter as the Minnesota Timberwolves stretched their winning streak to three games with an easy 108-80 win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday in Inglewood, Calif.
Anthony Edwards added 16 points, Josh Minott scored 13, and Jaden McDaniels and Mike Conley each had 11 for Minnesota. The Timberwolves have been improving after a four-game losing streak, which Edwards had criticized last week, mentioning issues with team effort and communication.
Their renewed focus started on Friday with a 93-92 win over the Clippers in Minneapolis.
For the Clippers, Bones Hyland scored 18 points, and Derrick Jones Jr. added 14. Amir Coffey finished with 12 points, and Ivica Zubac grabbed 10 rebounds. Los Angeles saw their nine-game home winning streak come to an end, and this was just their third loss in their last 11 games.
The Clippers were missing their leading scorer Norman Powell, who was out on the second night of a back-to-back after recently returning from a hamstring injury. Terance Mann (finger) and Kevin Porter Jr. (ankle) were also unavailable.
Minnesota came out strong, quickly building a double-digit lead at 22-12 and finishing the first quarter with a 33-14 advantage after shooting 52.4 percent from the floor.
The Timberwolves’ lead grew as large as 29 points in the second quarter, and they went into halftime with a 59-32 lead.
The Clippers struggled, with James Harden shooting 0-for-7 from the field and 0-for-4 from beyond the arc in the first half, as the team made only 28.6 percent of their shots. Harden ended the game with just five points on 1-for-10 shooting.
Minnesota continued to dominate in the second half, pushing their lead to 30 points early on, and went ahead by more than 40 points at 86-45 after a dunk by Nickeil Alexander-Walker with 2:03 left in the third quarter.
With the Clippers missing key players, Cam Christie and Trentyn Flowers made their NBA debuts. Christie scored his first points with a fastbreak dunk late in the third quarter and finished with five points, while Flowers scored nine points, all in the fourth quarter.
