LOS ANGELES – Ever since Anthony Edwards tried to diagnose what was wrong with the Timberwolves after a loss to the Kings last week — that they couldn’t communicate, that they were letting individual agendas affect the team — his teammates have responded in a big way.
The Wolves followed up their blowout of the Lakers on Monday with another trouncing of an L.A. hoops team, this time the Clippers, in a 108-80 victory in the franchise’s first game at the newly-opened Intuit Dome.
The coincidental thing about this for the Wolves is they’ve played great around Edwards while he himself hasn’t played up to his standards. The Wolves played lights-out defense, especially in the first half, while the offense outside of Edwards was humming. They led by 19 after the first quarter and 27 at halftime while Edwards was just 2-for-10. He finished with 16 on 5-for-14. They led by as much as 41 in the third quarter.
Rudy Gobert was masterful in captaining the defense. Gobert had five steals, a few of which he took full court to set up fast-break opportunities. He capped those off with a couple of no-look passes that got the bench fired up. Gobert finished with eight points, nine rebounds and seven assists. It was just the third time he has had seven or more assists in his career. Julius Randle led the team with 20 points.
The Clippers were without leading scorer Norman Powell and the Wolves held James Harden to five points on 1-for-10.
The Wolves opened with about as perfect a quarter as they have played all season. They didn’t commit any turnovers and Randle was on fire early with 16 points, including four threes. Their defense was all over the floor and forced four turnovers. Gobert had two steals himself.
The Wolves were down 10-9 before closing the quarter 24-4 for a 33-14 lead after one. They led fast-break points 7-0.
Josh Minott was the ninth man in the team’s rotation and earned some extra run than his usual one or two minutes. Minott picked up five points, three assists and three rebounds in five minutes.