The NBA playoffs officially began, the first to play the contest between the seventh and eighth places in the division, the Eastern Side, Durant and Irving led the Nets laughed to the end, the first round will be against the Celtics, the West side between the Clippers and timberwolves, this season the Timberwolves have made great progress, the Clippers are also very resilient, recently achieved 5 consecutive wins. In the first quarter, the Timberwolves played a 7-2 start, the Clippers quickly responded to a wave of 10-0 small climax, the first quarter ended, the Timberwolves trailed by 6 points; in the second quarter, the Clippers inside and outside the line, the offensive state is very good, the point difference continues to expand, but Russell suddenly broke the single quarter to cut 14 points, the first half of the battle, the Timberwolves countered 2 points. In the third quarter, the game entered a tug-of-war, George and Morris relied on the end of the quarter to score 6 consecutive points to complete the rebound, with a 6-point advantage into the fourth quarter, the final quarter of the battle, the Timberwolves did not give up, Edwards and Russell joined forces to play a wave of 21-5 to lock in the win, although in the last moment, George hit three points, but the Clippers have been powerless to return to heaven, the two sides after four quarters of competition, in the end, the Timberwolves 09-104 narrow victory.
In this game, George performed prominently, shooting 10 of 24 from the field, including 6 of 12 three-pointers, and had 34 points, 7 rebounds and 5 assists. However, in addition to him, the rest of the teammates performed mediocrely, Powell scored 16 points on 5-of-9 shooting, which was good efficiency, but there were too few shooting opportunities, Reggie Jackson got 18 shooting opportunities, but it was not efficient, shooting only 40%, and scored 17 points, especially in the fourth quarter key moment, and also lost a good opportunity to equalize the score with a empty-handed layup, which also became a turning point in the game. After the game, he also expressed sadness about his mistake in the fourth quarter. The Clippers will then compete against the winners of the Spurs and Pelicans for the final playoff spot. Head coach Tyronn Lu also said that the Timberwolves have completed the task, we are ready for Friday's game and we must do our best.
For the Timberwolves, Towns didn't fare well, getting into foul trouble and leaving the game, but Russell took over the game, shooting 10-of-18 from the field, including 3-of-5 from three-point range, and had 29 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists. Edwards also did his job well, scoring a team-high 30 points on 10-of-21 shooting, which was not easy for a second-year rookie and more importantly, a final-minute three-pointer that helped the team seal the win. It is worth mentioning that the Clippers abandoned Beverley's performance is remarkable, he has 7 points and 11 rebounds in the whole game, although the data is not conspicuous, but the contribution of the defensive end is great. He also said after the game that the Clippers looked down on me and it was wonderful to beat them. Next, the Timberwolves will play against the Grizzlies in the first round of the playoffs, and the dream of the playoffs has finally come true.