The Minnesota Timberwolves hit the next stop on their West Coast road trip tonight, taking on the Los Angeles Clippers on the second leg of a back-to-back. The visitors are looking to shake off two consecutive losses and recapture their recent positive momentum while the home side is improbably hanging around at .500 even despite the roster shakeup at the trade deadline, so this may be a close contest after all.
Here’s a Timberwolves vs. Clippers prediction and pick on DraftKings Sportsbook for Wednesday’s game.
Timberwolves vs. Clippers prediction, preview
Minnesota Timberwolves
The T-Wolves are 40-25 on the campaign and 7-3 across their last 10 games, but the Western Conference standings seemingly change by the day. They fell from third to fifth after last night’s loss to the Lakers, so shaking off back-to-back losses will prove crucial in this conference showdown.
Minnesota has a +3.8 NETRTG and still sits eighth in the NBA in the category, ranking 10th in pace as well. Despite a poor showing last night, the Timberwolves’ offense remains one of the league’s best with 117.2 PPG and the 10th-ranked OFFRTG. With a 48.3% FG% and 37.0% 3P%, both of which are top-five marks across the league landscape, shooting efficiency is a major strong suit for this roster. They also rank middle-of-the-pack in passing statistics with 26.1 assists a game and a 1.795 AST/TO ratio. The defense is also one of the better units, holding opponents to 114.5 PPG with the ninth-best DEFRTG. On the glass, the Wolves are 11th overall with 44.6 rebounds a game.
Anthony Edwards posts a career-best 29.6 PPG on stellar shooting splits, but last night was a stinker with just 14 points on 2-for-15 shooting. Julius Randle averages 21.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists but has been in a slump of his own with just 14.4 PPG since the All-Star break. Jaden McDaniels continues to impress though with 14.7 PPG and a team-high 42.1% 3P%. Rudy Gobert averages 11.4 rebounds and 10.9 points, leading the NBA with a 70.6% FG%. Naz Red is a frontcourt standout off the bench with 13.8 PPG, and Ayo Dosunmu and Donte DiVincenzo are also key contributors with double-digit scoring.
Los Angeles Clippers
The Clippers made the decision to flip standouts James Harden and Ivica Zubac at the deadline, seemingly paving the way for a potential rebuild. Yet they’re 32-32 and 6-4 over their last 10 contests as they keep winning games against all odds, including a 12-point win over the Knicks on Monday.
Los Angeles has a NETRTG of +0.5, good for 18th in the league while operating at the third-lowest pace. With the new-look roster since the All-Star break, the Clippers are averaging 117.6 PPG with the fourth-ranked OFFRTG. They’re dead last in assists with only 22.8 though, and 20th in rebounding while pulling in 42.8 boards a game. However, they do shoot an excellent 48.1% overall and 36.2% from deep, both of which are top-10 marks in the league. Defensively, the Clips give up 112.3 PPG and are 17th in DEFRTG.
Kawhi Leonard’s excellent campaign continues to the tune of 27.9 points, 6.4 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. He’s joined by Bennedict Mathurin as the other primary scorer, the former Pacer who averages 19.2 points with 6.4 rebounds over his 12 games in Los Angeles. Darius Garland is also clear to play tonight with 17.0 points and 5.8 assists a game through his four outings with the team. Derrick Jones Jr. is the lone other double-digit scorer with 11.3 PPG, and Brook Lopez holds things down at center with 7.8 points but only 3.1 boards.
Timberwolves vs. Clippers pick, best bet
DraftKings Sportsbook lists the Clippers as -1.5 home favorites tonight with -115 odds on the Moneyline. The Timberwolves are listed at -105 on the ML with the game total set at 226.5 combined points.
These versions of these teams met back on February 26, a game which saw an old-school scoring night as the T-Wolves won 94-88. Neither side shot better than 43.4% from the field or 30.8% from three in that contest, and Minnesota just barely won the rebounding battle 41-40. Notably, Garland missed that game.
This should be another close contest tonight, and while I lean toward the Timberwolves on the Moneyline, I’m not sure this Clips squad is one you can count out on any given night. They’re 16-14 ATS at home this season and 35-29 ATS overall, so the results have been pretty undeniable as to their competitiveness. That 1.5-point margin isn’t much of a margin to take the Wolves to cover, either, so I’m avoiding taking that route as well.
The under does make lots of sense in this matchup though. The under has cashed in 35/65 games for the T-Wolves and 31/64 for the Clips, so there’s been a pretty reliable track record for defense on both sides. After how the last game between these groups played out with just 182 combined points, we could get a good deal more scoring from both rosters and still comfortably make it in under 226.5. With Minnesota seventh in opponent eFG% and Los Angeles 15th in the same stat, the environment is right to fade points in this spot.
Top pick: Under 226.5 points (-108)
