THE Los Angeles Clippers narrowly shot Western Conference top hats Minnesota Timberwolves directed by Kawhi Leonard.
Clippers star man Leonard dropped 32 points, five rebounds and four assists in a hard-fought victory for his team.
Norman Powell was excellent off the bench for LA, providing 24 points and three rebounds along with six threes on eight attempts.
Anthony Edwards led the way for Minnesota, scoring 27 points and grabbing five rebounds in the home loss.
After three minutes, Minnesota was down nine to nothing thanks to some excellent early defense to keep Los Angeles away.
A few minutes later Jaden McDaniels I walked down the baseline and encountered Ivica Zubac to the rim for a showtime dunk.
Halfway through the first, Karl Anthony-Villes made his fifth basket in as many attempts to give the Timberwolves a 14-point lead.
In another striking piece, Rudy Gobert caught Kyle Andersonthe lob and I threw it over Daniel Theis with two minutes on the clock.
Despite Powell’s tough turnaround at the buzzer, the Clippers trailed 18-30 after an impressive start from Minnesota.
Powell continued his strong start in the second quarter, draining his fourth three-pointer in five attempts.
The Clippers managed to erase a 16-point deficit with Paul Georges‘s triple putting them up by one point three minutes into the second.
Both teams traded blows, with the lead changing hands several times during a very competitive quarter.
With three minutes before halftime James Harden found Leonard with a dime and the Claw threw it in to tie the game at 43-43.
Los Angeles’ much-improved defense allowed them to edge the hosts before the break with a score of 49-46.
It was much of the same in the early stages of the penultimate quarter, with both teams battling for the lead, but the Clippers led by a single point four minutes later.
Two minutes later, Terance Mann‘s mid-range effort sailed through the nylon to put Los Angeles ahead by five points.
Since shooting 5/5 from the field, Wolves big man KAT has shot 0/5 and has been quiet since his impressive first quarter.
Minnesota thought it had four points going into the final break after Nickeil Alexander-WalkerThe cut dunk left four seconds on the clock.
But Powell answered on the other end with a huge three-pointer to bring the Clippers within one again.
Two minutes after the start of the last 12 Naz Reid charged towards the bucket and threw it hard, but the basket was cleared due to a foul in the build-up.
Mount MorrisThe first shot and bucket came at a crucial time as his three-pointer gave the Timberwolves a four-point advantage with nine minutes remaining.
Two minutes later, Georges and Morris exchanged back-to-back tough threes with Minnesota still just ahead.
With 4:43 on the clock, Powell made his sixth three-and-out of the game to give his team a four-point lead.
As the final whistle approached, McDaniels put his defender on a poster following a smart pass from Gobert to tie the score at 84-84.
Leonard finished thanks to KAT’s touch at the rim and converted his free throw to give LA the lead 87-86 with two minutes remaining, with those points ultimately proving vital.
The Timberwolves couldn’t foul in the end and the Clippers closed out the win in Minnesota.
