LA Clippers Move up to 2nd in West as Minnesota Timberwolves Lose at Home

The Los Angeles Clippers moved up to solo second place in the Western Conference following a road win and a home loss by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Clippers defeated the Detroit Pistons, 136-125 in Detroit to improve its record to 33-15 and move to 2nd in the West while the Timberwolves were upended by the Orlando Magic, 98-96 at its home arena to drop to 3rd place with a 33-16 record in tie with the idle Denver Nuggets.

The OKC Thunder strengthened their hold of the leadership with a 126-106 home victory over the Charlotte Hornets to boost their record to 35-15, two won games ahead of the Clippers

The Clippers outplayed the Pistons with Kawhi Leonard leading a parade of scorers with 32 points. He was ably supported by Russell Westbrook (24), Paul George (18) Nick Mason (15) and Amir Coffey (14). Center Mason Plumlee had 12 points and 9 rebounds. Jaden Ivey, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Marcus Sassee tried to carry the fight for the Pistons with 28, 26 and 22 points respectively.

Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert and Karl Anthony Towns delivered their usual output with 22, 22 and 19 points respectively for Timberwolves. But no other T-Wolves posted significant numbers The visiting Magic on the other hand got balanced offense from Paolo Banchero (23), Franz Wagner (19), Wendell Carter (18 plus 12 rebounds); J Sugg (15) and M Futz (10).

OKC as usual was led in the win by Shai Gilgeous Alexander with 31 and center Chet Holmgren (18). They wwre aided by Cason Wallace (12), Ousmane Dieng (12) and Aaron Wiggins (10).