Clippers look to bounce back vs. Wolves after disappointing loss

After suffering one of their most surprising losses of the season, the Clippers will get a shot to bounce back against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports

The L.A. Clippers have experienced their fair share of unusual and unpredictable losses this season. Thursday's game against the Sacramento Kings was no exception.

Sacramento played one of its best games of the year in a 124-103 rout of the Clippers, knocking down a franchise-best 21 threes — 15 of which came in the first half. De'Aaron Fox scored a career-high 34 points and dished out an additional eight assists against a Clippers team that looked largely disinterested in playing defense.

Part of that may have been because of Kawhi Leonard's absence. The two-way star was a late scratch Thursday night, being removed from the starting lineup mere minutes before tip-off. He wouldn't play against Sacramento, missing the entire game due to lower back tightness. 

The Clippers also didn't get too much from Patrick Beverley, Paul George or Landry Shamet, as all were playing with restricted minutes. The trio combined for just 34 points, seven rebounds and 12 assists.

Fortunately, Leonard's injury doesn't seem to be serious, and Beverley, George and Shamet should see more floor time as soon as Saturday afternoon when the Clippers host the Minnesota Timberwolves. As it stands, L.A. is favored by 9.0.

Leonard is listed as questionable to return, but otherwise, the Clippers have a clean injury report. That's been incredibly uncommon for them this season — they've had a full roster available just once, for their Christmas Day meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers. Considering L.A. has still been able to win 33 games and is currently the second-best team in the Western Conference, they've done very well under the circumstances.

But if Leonard doesn't play, the Clippers should still be in good shape against Minnesota. L.A. is up 1-0 in the season series and led by as many as 27 in their lone meeting on December 13.

Since then, the Timberwolves have hit rock bottom. Minnesota has lost 12 of its last 17 and 10 straight, and their chances against the Clippers aren't high. 

Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins have been the main sources of production for the Wolves, but they don't get much help. Robert Covington is having a solid year, but having him as your third-best scoring option isn't ideal. Some solid role players fill out the bench, including Keita Bates-Diop and Josh Okogie, but the Wolves as a whole are largely underwhelming.

One of their biggest faults is inconsistent three-point shooting. As a team, the Wolves hoist up nearly 40 threes per game, which ranks third in the league. However, they convert less than 33 percent from range which puts them second-to-last in terms of efficiency, according to Basketball-Reference. 

Without Leonard, a consistent, all-around performance from the Clippers should guarantee an easy win. With him, he could look to add to his season-high streak of 30-point performances and overwhelm Minnesota's defense. 

L.A. must be careful not to repeat the kind of showing they had Thursday, though. Giving a bad team confidence is one of the worst things you can do, and the Wolves will be motivated to turn things around.