Minnesota Timberwolves 127, LA Clippers 101: 54 paint points and a fast start

The Minnesota Timberwolves ended a two-game losing streak by doing the simple thing well: they got to the rim. Minnesota scored 54 points in the paint to the Clippers' 36, shot 52 percent from the field and beat the LA Clippers 127-101 at Target Center on Friday night.

The Clippers led by three at one point. After that, it was Minnesota's game, with the lead growing as large as 24. The Wolves move to 4-2. LA falls to 1-4.

How it was won

The first quarter set the terms. Minnesota won it 34-24, a 10-point margin that the Clippers never really cut into. The Wolves added 35 in the second against LA's 32, then took the third 29-25.

The fourth was where the Clippers ran out of answers. They managed 11 points in the quarter against Minnesota's 18, a final stretch that turned a comfortable lead into a rout.

The box score tells the same story from several angles. Minnesota made 46 of 88 shots against LA's 32 of 73, took 15 more field-goal attempts and had 29 assists on those 46 makes. The Wolves also won the glass 39-34 and turned it over 11 times to the Clippers' 15. That combination of more possessions and better shots is how a game gets to 26.

LaMelo Ball led Minnesota with 24 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. He was 6 of 15 from three, part of a 17-of-39 night for the team. Jaden McDaniels added 21 points, 6 rebounds and 7 assists, a useful all-around line, while making just 1 of 2 from deep; most of his work came inside the arc. Bones Hyland scored 19 with 8 assists off 3-of-8 shooting from three.

The one area the Clippers won was the free-throw line, where they went 16 of 19 against Minnesota's 5 of 7. It did not come close to offsetting the gap in the paint.

Darius Garland was LA's best player, scoring 24 with 5 assists and hitting 4 of 8 threes. Brook Lopez had 13 points and 6 rebounds, and Rui Hachimura added 12 points and 5 rebounds. The Clippers shot 12 of 26 from three, a respectable 46 percent, but the volume was not there to keep pace.

Against the number

Minnesota closed as a 6.5-point favorite and covered with plenty to spare, winning by 26. The moneyline closed at -265 for the Wolves and +215 for the Clippers, so the market expected a home win; it did not expect this margin.

The total closed at 222.5, and the teams combined for 228 to go over. Most of that scoring was Minnesota's. The 127 points mark the second time in six games the Wolves have cleared 125.

Full pricing history is on the game page.

What's next

There is no rest for Minnesota. The Wolves play the second night of a back-to-back on Saturday, October 31, at the San Antonio Spurs, on NBA League Pass, DAZN SAS and DAZN MIN. How much the rotation gets stretched after a night like this, with Ball, McDaniels and Hyland carrying the scoring, is worth watching on short turnaround.

The Clippers' next date was not in the material available at time of writing. At 1-4, with Garland doing much of the work and a defense that gave up 54 in the paint, they have more pressing questions than the schedule.