Team: Minnesota Timberwolves (14-11) at Los Angeles Clippers (8-14)
Time: Wednesday, December 6, 2017 at 10:30pm ET (Staples Center)
After a previous weekend game against the Timberwolves, the Clippers find themselves against the young team yet again. While the Clippers are still immensely shorthanded, they hope to get the services of starting small forward Danilo Gallinari this time around.
The Timberwolves recently came off a surprising loss against a desperate Memphis team that lost 11 games straight. Jimmy Butler is still continuing his streak of tremendous games, scoring 30 points on 52% last game.
The same exact set of rules apply for the Clippers to win this game, rebound the ball & and limit turnovers. However, for the sake of tonight being a different game, let’s introduce some new elements.
Can the Clippers’ Hot Shooting Continue?
When these teams played on Sunday, the Clippers made a barrage of threes (15/34). Austin Rivers shot a staggering 7/10 from three himself.
📊 | .@AustinRivers25 | 30p/5r/5a/1s ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/hMJYBwTRDc
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) December 4, 2017
When you watch the footage from last game, you could clearly see that the long range game is the reason why the Clippers were in the game. If the Clippers fail to rebound or fail to limit turnovers, they’ll need to get hot from deep again. In order to do that, they’ll need to have great ball movement.
Contain Jimmy Butler
Last game, Jimmy Butler was a one man wrecking crew; Butler scored 20 of his 33 points in the final 7 minutes of the fourth quarter.
Jimmy G. Buckets. https://t.co/f7Xx58LQUf
— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) December 4, 2017
Containing a guy who has been averaging 21 PPG since November 10th seems like a daunting task. One way the Clippers could hope to contain him, is to defend without fouling. Butler shot 13 free throws and scored 11 of his 30 points, at the line.
Prediction: Doubling down on the prediction that Jamal Crawford will get 20 points in his return to Staples Center.
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