Timberwolves beat Clippers 108-106 as Anthony Edwards scores 37 points

Jerry Zgoda, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Jan 6, 2025

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

MINNEAPOLIS — Two days after Minnesota Timberwolves coach Chris Finch defended sticking with his same starting five, he changed his lineup for Monday’s 108-106 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers, even though his team had lost six of its last nine games.

With the Wolves struggling recently to start games, he took out 18-year NBA veteran point guard Mike Conley and started reserve guard Donte DiVincenzo alongside Anthony Edwards, Julius Randle, Jaden McDaniels and Rudy Gobert.

The result was no better to start, but a much better push to the final minute for a Wolves team that trailed by as much as 19 points before halftime but led by as many as 10 points after it.

Edwards made two of his six 3s in the final 1:12 on his way to a 37-point night that helped end the Wolves’ three-game losing streak.

But it took some nervous moments in the game’s final 10 seconds when the Clippers had the chance to tie the game but missed.

Naz Reid scored 18 off the Wolves’ bench and Norman Powell’s 25 points led the Clippers.

The Wolves used a 31-23 third quarter and a 12-4 run to start the fourth quarter to reverse course and get back in the game.

But the Clippers countered with a 14-3 run that took them from an 89-80 deficit with eight minutes left to a 94-91 lead with fewer than four minutes left.

Edwards and McDaniels each made a 3 down the stretch and the Wolves led 100-98 with 1:49 left.

“You guys ask me this question all the time,” Finch said Saturday in Detroit where the Wolves lost 119-105. “If I felt that the magic bullet was changing the starting lineup, I would have done that already. I don’t think I’m being particularly stubborn. There’s a change reaction to everything you do. There are other combinations and things that go on on the floor that are just as important if not more so than the starting lineup.”

On Monday night, Finch made the change nonetheless.

He swapped out Conley for DiVicenzo to start the game and later played with lineups that included Conley with Gobert, Edwards, McDaniels and Naz Reid.

Conley has scored 1096 of the 1131 career games he has played with Memphis, Utah and the Wolves since his NBA debut in 2007.

The last he didn’t start a game was when he played in 42 of 43 with the Jazz in 2022-2023. He was traded to the Wolves during the season.

The switch didn’t solve the team’s slow-start problem.

They trailed 15-7, 20-10 and 27-16 by first quarter’s end and by 19 in the first half against a Clippers team that was missing stars Kawhi Leonard and Norman Powell when the team played twice in four days in late November and early December.

The Wolves won both games, 93-92 at Target Center and 108-80 in Los Angeles.

This time last season, the Timberwolves were 25-9, had just lost back-to-back games for the first time all season and wouldn’t lose three games consecutively until the playoffs.

This time around, Monday’s comeback victory moved them one game over .500, at 18-17.

Last year, the Wolves bounced back nearly every time after a loss. They lost consecutive games only four times, didn’t lose three straight until they lost Games 3, 4 and 5 to Denver in a seven-game playoff series that beat the reigning champion Nuggets in a Western Conference second-round game.

They did the same in the first three games they lost consecutively to start their five-game Western Conference final loss to Dallas.

Their ability to keep losses from becoming streaks in many ways defined their season.

“It was huge,” Finch said before Monday’s game. “Absolutely, avoid losing streaks. We were super resilient that way. Take care of business with teams you should take care of business with. Really good on the road. There are a lot of things.”

____