In what's already becoming a dismal season for both teams, the Los Angeles Clippers and Minnesota Timberwolves have reason to be optimistic on Saturday night - they get to play each other.
Either the Timberwolves' four-game losing streak or the Clippers' three-game slide will end when the struggling clubs square off at the Target Center.Minnesota (4-14) and Los Angeles (3-16) finished well out of the playoff hunt in 2007-08, with 22 and 23 wins, respectively, and the new season has brought more of the same struggles. Neither team has won consecutive games, and hapless Oklahoma City is the only Western Conference club with a worse record.
Minnesota's current skid began last Saturday with a 106-97 loss to Denver, and continued on a winless three-game road trip in which the margin of defeat increased with each contest. On Friday, the Timberwolves (4-14) suffered their most lopsided defeat of the season, 113-84 in New Jersey.
Randy Foye scored 20 points for Minnesota while Al Jefferson added 17 with 12 rebounds and four blocked shots, but the Timberwolves allowed the Nets to shoot 52.7 percent (39-for-74) from the floor and never seriously threatened.
"We can't give up both, inside and outside," Minnesota coach Randy Wittman said. "That's what happened tonight."
Swingman Mike Miller, averaging 11.5 points and a team-high 4.4 assists per game, was inactive on Friday despite participating in the morning shootaround after he sprained his right ankle in Wednesday night's loss to Orlando. His status is uncertain for this contest.
The Timberwolves must hope for the slumping Clippers to provide the same sort of elixir they gave to Memphis on Friday. The Grizzlies had lost seven in a row prior to hosting the Clippers, whom they beat 93-81.
Baron Davis had 23 points and eight assists to lead Los Angeles, which fell to 0-3 on its four-game road trip and lost for the seventh time in eight games overall. Sloppiness on offense plagued the Clippers, who turned the ball over 17 times leading to 23 Memphis points. They also had only 25 rebounds - their fewest since April 4, 2004, when they had 25 in a 97-92 loss to Utah.
"Our turnovers really hurt us tonight; 17 turnovers for 23 points," Los Angeles coach Mike Dunleavy said. "We just got killed on the boards. Their size really hurt us. We were only able to get three offensive rebounds on the night, and that's not a good number for us."
The Timberwolves took the final three meetings of last season's four-game series with the Clippers, including both matchups in Minnesota. The Clippers have failed to score 100 points in any of their last 10 games against the Timberwolves, although they've won four of those contests.
