Associated Press recap
On that night, the Timberwolves, as Al Jefferson put it, couldn’t “score no more” in a third quarter that cost them the game.
On Monday, it was the fourth quarter when they went completely cold, surrendering what once had been an eight-point, third-quarter lead after they went scoreless for nearly five minutes in the middle of the final quarter.
This time, traveling violations, an illegal screen and missed shot after missed shot were their doom against the Clippers, who upset Denver at home Friday night and Monday did just barely enough to win.
Clippers guard Baron Davis, benched for most of the second half and 0 for 8 in the game, sank a driving layup with 8.5 seconds remaining to give Los Angeles a pivotal four-point lead and halt a late Wolves rally.
The Wolves (1-13) matched last season’s 13-game skid, which led to the firing of coach Randy Wittman, and are three losses from the franchise’s all-time mark of futility, which has stood for 15 years.
Minnesota led by as many as eight points in the third quarter only to watch former Wolf Sebastian Telfair nail a pair of jumpers in the first minute of the fourth to give the previously moribund Clippers a 76-73 lead, and they never trailed again.