Los Angeles Clippers vs Minnesota Timberwolves Match Player Stats On Dec 03, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Dec 3, 2017

MINNEAPOLIS -- Jimmy Butler scored a season-high 33 points, including 20 in the fourth quarter, as the Minnesota Timberwolves recovered and held on to beat the Los Angeles Clippers 112-106 on Sunday night.

Karl-Anthony Towns had his league-leading 19th double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds and Taj Gibson added 20 points and 11 rebounds for Minnesota, which surrendered the lead in the fourth before Butler came to the rescue.

Butler, who had six points at halftime, hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with six minutes left and scored nine straight points at one point for the Timberwolves, who won for the second time in three games.

Austin Rivers scored 30 points, tying a career best with seven 3-pointers, for the shorthanded Clippers. DeAndre Jordan had 17 points and 12 rebounds for Los Angeles, which is without four injured starters in Blake Griffin, Patrick Beverley, Danilo Gallinari and Milos Teodosic.

Coming off a deflating 108-82 loss in Dallas on Saturday, the Clippers shot 50.7 percent from the field and were 15 of 34 from 3-point territory. Rivers was 7 of 10 from beyond the arc.

The hot shooting pressured Minnesota, which had to hang on for the tight victory despite a 16-7 advantage in turnovers and holding Los Angeles to just two fast-break points.

Neither team led by more than the Timberwolves' eight-point lead midway through the second quarter.

A pair of free throws by Lou Williams tied the game early in the fourth and Montrezl Harrell's dunk provided Los Angeles a lead with 9:12 left before Butler took over.

After Butler hit a driving layup and was fouled, he looked to coach Tom Thibodeau and said something before hitting the free throw. He hit a 3 on the next possession to take the lead and Minnesota held on.

NOTES: Minnesota F Nemanja Bjelica missed his sixth straight game with a left mid-foot sprain. His return is still uncertain. ... Los Angeles started G C.J. Williams and F Jamil Wilson. It was the first career start for each of the two rookies. G Lou Williams came off the bench. ... The Timberwolves assigned C Justin Patton to Iowa of the G League after Justin Patton recovered from surgery to repair a metatarsal in his left foot. ... Clippers G Austin Rivers' 20 points in the first half were a career best in a half. ... Minnesota C Karl-Anthony Towns has a double-double in 12 of his last 14 games. PF Taj Gibson has a double-double in four of his last five games.