By MIKE COOK The Associated Press
MINNEAPOLIS — The Clippers were on the verge of a big road win, but Anthony Edwards took control late … again.
Edwards scored 28 of his 37 points in the second half and the Minnesota Timberwolves overcame a 19-point first-half deficit to beat the Clippers, 108-106, on Monday night. Edwards also helped Minnesota hold off the Clippers by one point in an NBA Cup group-play game in the same arena earlier this season.
Edwards, who had a career-high 53 points in Saturday’s loss at Detroit, finished 14 for 29 from the field in this one, including a back-to-back 3-pointers late in the fourth quarter for his eighth game this season of 30-plus points.
Naz Reid scored 18 off the bench and Donte DiVincenzo added 15 for Minnesota, which ended a three-game slide. Rudy Gobert had eight points and a game-high 18 rebounds.
Norman Powell led the Clippers with 25 points, while James Harden added 22 points, eight rebounds and eight assists and Ivica Zubac had 17 points, 16 rebounds and six blocked shots. The Clippers have lost three of four.
Clippers star Kawhi Leonard scored eight points on 3-for-11 shooting in his second game of the season since returning from a knee injury. He added two assists and two rebounds in 21 minutes.
With the Wolves down by one, Edwards swished a step-back 3-pointer with 1:12 to play. After Zubac missed a layup, Edwards – who added seven rebounds and eight assists – drained another 3-pointer with 34.4 seconds left for a 106-101 lead.
The Clippers led 96-91 with 4:07 remaining after an 11-0 run, but a three-point play and a 3-pointer by Edwards put the Timberwolves ahead by one a minute later. That set up a back-and-forth finish that included a three-point play by Powell, who made a layup and a free throw to give the Clippers a 101-100 edge with 1:35 left.
Amir Coffey helped the Clippers seize a 15-point lead in the first quarter when he drove toward the rim and made a floating jump shot. That increased the Clippers’ advantage to 25-10 with 2:27 to play in the opening session.
The Timberwolves rallied with a 10-0 run late in the second quarter. Jaden McDaniels started the run with a layup and a 3-pointer before Edwards added a 3-pointer and Gobert made a basket to trim the deficit to 51-46 with 58.1 seconds left in the half.
Powell made a pair of free throws to finish the first-half scoring and the Clippers led 53-46 at the intermission, but the Timberwolves grabbed a 77-76 lead by the end of the third quarter.
Minnesota led by four points before Nicolas Batum hit a 3-pointer with 0.3 seconds remaining in the quarter. The play was confirmed after an official review.
Averaging 20.1 points per game, Julius Randle scored just five for Minnesota on 2-of-10 shooting. He missed all three of his 3-point attempts.
DiVincenzo started at point guard for Minnesota in place of Mike Conley, who came off the bench for the first time in his 131 games with the Timberwolves. In his 18th season overall, Conley entered averaging 8.0 points per game and shooting 34.9% from the field, both career lows. He finished with 11 points.
The Clippers are at Denver on Wednesday at 6 p.m. PT.
