Odom Struggling With Bad Wrist

Lamar Odom’s left wrist injury, which has bothered him off and on all season, has become an issue, but Coach Alvin Gentry said the Clippers cannot afford to rest their leading scorer and rebounder.

“His wrist is killing him and that’s unfortunate,” Gentry said. “He’s doing the best he can. He had 13 rebounds and 15 points [against Denver on Wednesday] playing with one hand, which happens to be his non-shooting hand.

“The wrist is really hurting him. You can see it when we swing the ball to him and he has open shots but he can’t shoot those shots right now. But we have to have him on the floor . . . for us to be good.”

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Depending on which way you look at it, the Clippers are either heading into tonight’s game against the Minnesota Timberwolves on a mini-roll, with two wins in their last three games, or they are still struggling with consistency because they’ve lost six of their last nine.

Both are right.

“When we play up to our capabilities, we are a pretty good team and I think we know that,” Gentry said. “Sometimes we have situations where we don’t finish things off.”

The Clippers, who along with Vancouver have played the second most home games in the league (21), start a four-game trip tonight.

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Darius Miles and Quentin Richardson were chosen by the NBA to compete in the Rookie Challenge during All-Star weekend, a game featuring rookies against second-year players.

TONIGHT

at Minnesota, 5

Fox Sports Net 2

* Site--Target Center.

* Radio--KXTA (1150).

* Records--Clippers 13-24, Timberwolves 20-17.

* Record vs. Timberwolves--1-1.

* Update--In their first nationally televised game in more than three years, the Clippers defeated Minnesota, 103-96, on Dec. 20 at Staples Center. The Timberwolves have lost their last two.