Clippers fall flat in blowout loss to Timberwolves, 142-115

The L.A. Clippers looked lethargic in one of their worst losses of the season so far.

Sometimes, the most dangerous games are ones you least expect to be. 

On Saturday night, the L.A. Clippers took on a Minnesota Timberwolves team that had dropped 13 contests in a row and acquired eight new players since the beginning of the week — and lost. 

Minnesota set a new franchise record for threes made in a game with 26, as the Clippers fell 142-115 in one of their worst losses of the season so far.

From the jump, the Clippers looked far less engaged than the Wolves. Minnesota was competing, playing free and loose, while L.A. played like they had expected to win without much effort.

It's an issue that's plagued the Clippers all year long. Despite sitting near the top of the Western Conference standings, L.A. has suffered some real head-scratching losses to the Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls, Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings. 

In those types of games, the Clippers tend to play down to their opponent and end up in tightly-contested slugfests. And that, of course, gives the lesser team confidence. 

The Timberwolves did have the benefit of being an unknown coming into the game, as nearly half the roster is brand new. Those games tend to go one of two ways — either the more familiar team comes in and cruises to victory, or they get blindsided by an effort they did not plan for.

An example of the latter is the Clippers' mid-season victory in Boston last season. L.A. was playing its first game with Landry Shamet, Ivica Zubac and Garrett Temple on the roster, and they ended up beating the Celtics behind a 42-point fourth-quarter effort. 

The trio of Shamet, Zubac and Temple combined for 40 points, and they were each vital in L.A.'s surprising victory.

The same could be said of Malik Beasley, Juancho Hernangomez and James Johnson, three people who played their first game for Minnesota on Saturday night. They scored 52 points on 18-of-34 shooting — 12 of which were three-pointers. 

Ultimately, it was just one of those weird losses that the Clippers will need to put behind them as soon as possible. There's not much to take away from this one, and L.A. was down two starters — including Marcus Morris Sr. 

Morris' status was determined a few hours before the game when he was determined to be ineligible. To put it simply, there are a lot of hoops that a player needs to jump through when they're traded to a new team, including travel. 

That said, Morris should be all good to go tomorrow night when the Clippers take on the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Like Minnesota, the Cavaliers are another team that made a significant trade this week to acquire former Detroit Pistons center, Andre Drummond.

Perhaps L.A. will take a different approach following tonight's disappointing loss.