On January 7th, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, with the Clippers challenging the Timberwolves away. Leonard continued to start, and was also able to contribute from the outside, helping the team launch a 21-3 offensive wave to take the initiative on the court. Afterwards, the Clippers completely took the lead, once establishing a 19-point advantage. However, the Timberwolves finally hit several three-pointers in a row to narrow the gap, and at halftime, the Clippers led 53-46.
In this game, the Timberwolves also made adjustments, with DiVincenzo starting. At the beginning, both teams were not in good offensive form, and there were no field goals for 2 minutes. Gobert dunked to break the deadlock, Edwards also made a jumper, leading 7-4. Leonard hit a three-pointer to stop the bleeding, and then the Clippers' offense started to enter the state. Harden also made a jumper, Leonard made a putback, Leonard hit another three-pointer, Mann came up and hit a three-pointer, directly launching a 21-3 offensive wave to take a 25-10 lead. Afterwards, Edwards dunked to stop the bleeding, but he also received a technical foul, and the Clippers led 27-16 in the first quarter.
In the second quarter, the Timberwolves' offense recovered somewhat, with Walker hitting a three-pointer, Reed making a 2+1 charge, and Coffey making a two-handed dunk to stabilize the situation. Zubac continued to score inside, Xiao Ming also hit a three-pointer, and the Clippers further widened the gap. Reed hit a three-pointer to stop the bleeding, Conley also grasped the three-pointer, successfully narrowing the gap. Powell hit a three-pointer to stabilize the situation, Conley hit back with a three-pointer, Harden also hit a three-pointer, McDaniels scored 5 points in a row with inside and outside shots, Edwards hit a three-pointer, Gobert made a supplementary dunk, Powell made free throws to stabilize the situation, and at halftime, the Clippers led 53-46.
The Clippers' offensive state in the first half was still good, with Powell scoring 13 points, Leonard also scoring 8 points, Harden scoring 9 points and 4 assists, and Zubac scoring 9 points and 11 rebounds. Overall, their performance was still good, but they relaxed a bit before the end of the half.
On the Timberwolves' side, their offense recovered somewhat in the second quarter, hitting 7 three-pointers in the first half to successfully narrow the gap, while Randle was in poor form, missing all 4 shots and scoring no points.