CLIPPERS' LOSS COSTLY T-WOLVES REGAIN WEST'S 8TH SPOT.Byline: JOE STEVENS Staff Writer Coming into Saturday's game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Clippers were on track to meeting their expectations this season. They could have gone above .500, two games up on the Timberwolves for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. Riding a five-game winning streak would have been nice, too. But, thanks to 26 turnovers, none of that happened for the Clippers, who lost 101-87 to the Timberwolves at Staples Center. ``We did everything to beat ourselves, and that's what happened,'' said Sam Cassell, who led the giveaway gang with sixturnovers. ``Me, being a leader, I can't come into a game with six turnovers, four of them unforced. That just can't happen (programming) can't happen - The traditional program comment for code executed under a condition that should never be true, for example a file size computed as negative. Often, such a condition being true indicates data corruption or a faulty algorithm; it is almost always handled by emitting a fatal error message and terminating or crashing, since there is little else that can be done., so I take the blame for starting it.'' The Clippers were down 11 points in the third quarter, but hung around enough to go up 81-80 with 6:36 left. But Minnesota rattled off a 14-2 run to reclaim its 11-point lead and go up 94-83 with 2:55 left. Cassell made a jump shot with 7:19 to play. The next Clippers' field goal came with 1:18 left. Elton Brand finished with 25 points and 12 rebounds, but Kevin Garnett's line was better as he had 32 points and nine rebounds. The Timberwolves converted the Clippers' turnovers into 32 points and snapped a six-game losing streak. They also pulled into a tie for the eighth playoff spot with the Clippers, but Minnesota holds the tiebreaker over L.A. by winning the season series 2-1. Before the game, Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy offered various lines about the importance of his team's meeting with its ``eighth-seeded playoff-spot rival.'' It was the teams' third and final meeting, after splitting two games in Minnesota. ``This is more than a game,'' Dunleavy said. ``It's worth one and a half or two games because of the tiebreaker. ... There have been certain games where we've been there and we said, `Look, based on the team we're playing tonight, we can't afford to lose to this team. We have to get a win. It has to happen.''' ``Our decision-making was off-the-charts bad,'' he added. ``I can't even think of what we were trying to do in some instances when we turned the basketball over.'' The Timberwolves went into Saturday's game in turmoil. They played the previous night in Seattle, were on their big losing streak, and were playing their third game since coach Dwane Casey was replaced with Randy Wittman. ``I was disappointed that we had that many turnovers, which let them get easy buckets,'' Brand said. ``We just have to keep getting better.'' joe.stevens@presstelegram.com (562) 499-1338 CAPTION(S): photo, box Photo: The Clippers' Sam Cassell fights for the ball with Minnesota's Ricky Davis as Kevin Garnett, right, rushes in to help his teammate Saturday at Staples Center. John Lazar/Staff Photographer Box: CLIPPERS at SEATTLE - Joe Stevens |
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