Injury-plagued Clippers held to 80 points in blowout loss to Minnesota

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Clippers guard James Harden controls the ball in front of Minnesota Timberwolves forward Jaden McDaniels during the first half of the Clippers’ 108-80 loss Wednesday at the Intuit Dome. (Eric Thayer / Associated Press)

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.

Read more: Norman Powell and James Harden lead Clippers to dominant win over Portland

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.

“In our mindset, no matter who is on the floor, every night we want to play hard and compete on the defensive end,” Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said before the game. “Like, that’s got to be our staple every night and that’s what our team has given us so far these first [23] games. And, so, the next guy in the rotation, the next man up, they are going to come in and do the same thing. So, nothing really changes.”

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)

From the start, the Clippers (14-10) 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…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/injury-plagued-clippers-held-80-055605319.html

Author : LA Times

Publish date : 2024-12-05 05:56:00

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