Anthony Edwards, Pat Beverly, Wolves defeat Paul George, Clippers in play in the NBA 2022 | Ovarian Report

Minnesota was never late for the remainder of the game, with Edwards scoring a big triple-pointer for a 102-98 lead. The Timberwolves have frozen the game by throwing free throws over the distance to banish the game.

Edwards scored 30 points to lead the Timberwolves, and D’Angelo Russell scored 10 out of 18 for 29 points. Their efforts helped weather a night out star Karl-Anthony Towns, who missed in the fourth quarter after just 11 points in 24 minutes.

Clippers striker Paul George, who started the game 2 of 10 from the field, finished with 34 points (10 of 24 from the field, 6 of 12 from three).

The Timberwolves had not made the playoffs in four years before breaking that streak on Tuesday. The Clippers still have a chance to snatch a watershed point and will look to extend their post-season back streak to four.

Highlights

Clippers F Paul George: 34 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 shots

Clippers J Reggie Jackson: 17 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists

Clippers J Norman Powell: 16 points

Timberwolves J Anthony Edwards: 30 points, 5 rebounds

D’Angelo Russell Timberwolves: 29 points, 6 assists, 5 rebounds, 3 steals

Timberwolves Karl-Anthony Towns: 11 points, 5 rebounds

Strong fourth quarter pushes wolves

Nothing was going well for Wolves after the first half.

The Clippers outnumbered Minnesota 42-30 in the first half 15:06 of the second half. George’s temperature caught on, and Towns couldn’t move forward due to problems and struggles from the field (3 of 11).

L.A. led 93-83 and looked close to putting this away, but Towns snapped into the group to smoothly drive the ball down the gap to eight.

However, he quickly got it wrong, leaving the Wolves without their star. Despite this, Minnesota has plenty of talent, and it was up to them to take over.

That’s exactly what they did, the wolves taking huge blows and continuing to defend.

Owner Beasley dried a triple pointer to cut the lead down to 93-90:

George responded with a throw-in, but both Edwards and Nas Red hit the ball to cut the Clippers’ lead to 95-94.

Then it was Russell’s time, as he pulled off three targets that wolves never gave up:

Edwards quickly followed with an immersion hammer:

The Clippers came close by one point after Nicholas Batum’s three-pointer one minute later, but Edwards’ triple stride and second stride followed by Russell from inside the arc gave Wolves a 104-98 lead.

George cut the lead in half by three, but the wolves crept away from there and now found themselves headed for Memphis.

George does everything he can for Will Clippers to the playoffs

Nobody played on the field better than George in the second half, as the seven-time All-Star tried to put the Clippers on his back and into the playoffs.

He almost took it off, and performed it on both ends of the earth.

George did his best job from behind the three-point line, though the wolves couldn’t stop him from going deeper. Back-to-back triples put Los Angeles on top 69-67.

He ended up scoring 18 goals in the quarter and had scored 27 goals in the last 12 minutes.

George continued to advance in the fourth inning, firing this mid-range shot for a 95-90 lead:

Those were the only points scored during Minnesota’s 16-2 run, though, forcing Los Angeles to scramble at the end. To George’s credit, he kept things interesting with the help of a Batum triple before making a pair of three-pointers of his own.

The Wolves were simply too great in the long run, and George and the Clippers now face a win-or-go match on Friday.

What’s Next?

Second seed Minnesota will play the Memphis Grizzlies in the first round of the NBA playoffs starting Saturday at 3:30 p.m. ET at FedExForum.

The Clippers will host the winner of the New Orleans Pelicans’ game against the San Antonio Spurs on Friday at 10 p.m. ET at Crypto.com Arena.

The victor there will be the No. 8 seed and begin his first-round series against the Phoenix Suns on Sunday.