Down by 22, Wolves rally to blow out Clippers; Rudy Gobert rib concern
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It was an odd night in Los Angeles as the Minnesota Timberwolves rallied from a 22-point hole to blow away the Clippers 118-100.
Kawhi Leonard left the arena, notably wearing a denim jacket. Naz Reid tweaked his ankle. Rudy Gobert suffered a possible rib injury. Anthony Edwards wasn't even on the bench for the first minute of the third quarter and nobody knew why. It was wild from start to finish.
Minnesota got off to a miserable start and trailed by 22 points with five minutes left in the second quarter. But with Leonard in denim, the Wolves went on a 20-2 run and trimmed the Clippers lead to eight points at the half.
Then they started the third quarter on a 14-5 run and took the lead on a follow dunk by Gobert with 7:26 left in the quarter. At the end of three, another 15-4 run had the Wolves on top 84-78.
While Anthony Edwards had 30 points through three quarters, Nickeil Alexander-Walker gave Minnesota a huge spark with 25 points in 23 minutes off the bench. He hit 8-of-9 shots including 4-of-5 threes through three quarters.
The lead ballooned to 14 points early in the fourth quarter – and that's when Gobert bit on Ivica Zubac's pump fake and left his feet, landing on Zubac's back before crashing to the court. Gobert grabbed as his midsection and wound up heading to the locker room for a left rib evaluation.
With Gobert out, Mike Conley kept applying pressure with 12 points in the fourth quarter. He finished with 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting including 5-of-6 from 3-point range.
The dagger was delivered by Alexander-Walker with a corner 3 – his fifth triple of the game – to give the Wolves a 20-point lead, 114-94, with 4:10 remaining.
Alexander-Walker finished with 28 points and Edwards had 37.
Leonard left the game and apparently the arena after the first quarter. There was speculation about what was happening as TNT's cameras spotted him in a denim jacket on his way out but it was later confirmed by the Clippers that he was out for the game due to thoracic spasms, also known was back spasms.
The Timberwolves were playing without Karl-Anthony Towns, who underwent surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee on Tuesday, and Monte Morris, who is dealing with a sore hamstring.
Minnesota gets to rest for three days before facing the Utah Jazz in Salt Lake City on Saturday night.
Mar 12, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (27) moves in for the dunk against Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul George (13) during the first half at Crypto.com Arena.
Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
