Kevin Love Beats Buzzer at Staples Center as Wolves Defeat Clippers in Thriller

Last night on ESPN, the Los Angeles Clippers hosted the Minnesota Timberwolves in a match-up that featured two of the leagues up and coming forwards. It was nice to see a loud and excited crowd at Staples Center for a Timberwolves-Clippers game. Kevin Love of the Timberwolves was returning to play in his native Los Angeles going up against the high-flying Blake Griffin and the Chris Paul-less Clippers.

This was the major story line of the game, but there was great play from other sources that made this game fun to watch. The Timberwolves got a great effort from center Darko Milicic (former No. 2 overall pick in 2003) who scored 22 points before fouling out of the game along with backup Nikola Pekovic who scored eight points. Rookie Derrick Williams helped to keep the game close by scoring key baskets in the third and fourth quarters as the Clippers were looking to maintain a lead.

For the Clippers, Blake Griffin did his thing scoring 21 points while grabbing 10 rebounds. He got a lot of help from guards Chauncey Billups (20 points) and Mo Williams (25 points). Williams was ejected from the game around the halfway point of the fourth quarter after picking up technical fouls for arguing a foul call against Ricky Rubio. Billups was hitting big shots down the stretch (as usual) to keep the Clippers ahead against the feisty Timberwolves.

A rookie point guard, Rubio struggled shooting all night but was able to get into the lane and draw fouls leading to free-throw attempts on multiple possessions. Rubio hit his first made shot of the night—a huge three-point basket that tied the game at 98—with 20 seconds left in the game.

On the next possession, Rubio played good defense on the veteran Billups and was able to force a tough shot, that gave the Timberwolves possession with 1.5 seconds remaining in the game (after a discussion by the referees).

On the final possession of the game, Luke Ridnour passed the ball in to Love (17 points and 14 rebounds) who came of a couple of screens and out past the three-point line, to nail the deep three-point shot to give the Timberwolves a big win on the road.

At the end of the night, the young Timberwolves showed fight and never quit, even when facing a large deficit. Head coach Rick Adelman should be proud of his squad as they are making changes for the better.