Clippers win big, and will rest stars against Thunder

Clippers forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (12) splits the defense of Timberwolves guards Andrew Wiggins (22) and Ricky Rubio (9) during the second half.

Staff Writer

March 30, 2016 9:51 PM PT

Reporting from MINNEAPOLIS —

The sense was that the Clippers were not going to mess around in this game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. And they didn’t.

For starters, the Clippers put a 99-79 beating on the Timberwolves on Wednesday night as a reminder of the last time the two teams met at Staples Center, a game Minnesota surprisingly won.

But there was also the idea of the Clippers wanting to be as fresh as possible with a back-to-back game looming Thursday night at Oklahoma City.

Still, even though Chris Paul, DeAndre Jordan and J.J. Redick didn’t play in the fourth quarter against the Timberwolves, the three of them will not play against the Thunder, The Times has learned.

The Clippers are pretty much locked into the fourth seed in the Western Conference, so resting Paul, Jordan and Redick was viewed as the way to go because it will be the Clippers’ fourth game in five nights. And because there are only two weeks left before the playoffs start, having a fresh Paul, Jordan and Redick is paramount.

None of them played heavy minutes against the Timberwolves.

But it all worked out for the Clippers because their defense was on point during the moments when their offense lagged behind.

The 79 points the Clippers gave up was a season-low for an opponent. The 34.5% field-goal shooting by the Timberwolves was also a season low for an opponent.

The Clippers shot 44% from the field and 29% (nine for 31) from three-point range.

“We’re picking it up because we know how valuable and important it is for us to be a good defensive team because some nights our shots are not going to fall,” said Jordan, who had another strong defensive game with three blocks to go with 11 points and eight rebounds. “But we can still be able to out there and give 100% effort and get stops.”

Paul was on his game for the most part, coming up two rebounds shy of a triple-double despite playing just over 30 minutes.

Paul contributed 20 points, 16 assists and eight rebounds. He was only six for 16 from the field, but Paul pushed the pace when the Clippers separated themselves from Timberwolves in the third, taking a 79-53 lead.

Redick had 17 points on six-for-15 shooting in 27 minutes. He had eight of his points in the third.

“If you think about it, we didn’t even have one of our great offensive nights,” Paul said. “Me and J.J. missed a lot of great looks and we still were able to get the separation that we did because our defense was so consistent and just kept us in the game.”