Wolves get blown out again, losing 153-128 to Clippers

Chris Hine, The Minnesota Star Tribune on Mar 12, 2026

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There is one thing the Timberwolves have done consistently of late — when they lose, they lose hard.

The Wolves lost their third consecutive game on Wednesday, March 11, with none of them close by the end, this one coming 153-128 to the Clippers.

The Wolves’ defense hasn’t showed up on this road trip, which will continue Friday against Golden State. Kawhi Leonard torched them for 45 points on Wednesday as the Clippers shot 63% from the field.

“Obviously it’s not acceptable,” coach Chris Finch told reporters in Los Angeles about the defense. “They didn’t have a single quarter under 35 points ... so not an acceptable defensive performance at all.”

Anthony Edwards had 36 points, but the Wolves had 21 turnovers, with Edwards tallying five and Julius Randle recording four. Randle’s offensive struggles continued with just 11 points on 3-for-10 shooting.

The Wolves did show some fight on the evening — after the final buzzer sounded when officials and coaches had to break up a fracas at center court.

“We got to regroup. We got to play both sides of the floor,” Finch said. “[Against the Lakers] it was our offense, and tonight it was our defense. So we got to put a complete game together, come back together. We know we’re a good team. Feels like we’re a million miles away from where we were a week ago, but we’re not. Got to regroup and win the next game.”

What it means

When the Timberwolves went 17-4 down the stretch of last season, they benefited from a soft schedule. The opposite is the case this season, with several playoff or play-in teams dotting their schedule for the rest of the season. The Wolves have felt that in this three-game losing streak.

For portions of the season, the Wolves have been able to get by without playing up to their potential. They are finding out quickly what the cost of this could be. They were in third place in the Western Conference after their recent five-game win streak. Now, they are in sixth, just one game ahead in the loss column over Phoenix, which holds the tiebreaker over them. The Suns do so in part because the Wolves have a 7-13 combined record against the other top eight teams in the Western Conference.

If they don’t bring it against other teams playing for something, they might get run out of the gym, which they have the last week.

How it happened

Early in the first quarter, the Wolves looked like they were going to mail it in. The Clippers opened with a 12-2 run as the Wolves had five turnovers to start the night. A Wolves team that has had trouble finding the requisite energy on a night to night basis looked like it was ready to do some light cardio the rest of the evening.

But the Wolves found a pulse, and their offense recovered from some of the doldrums it had been in recently. The Wolves shot 69% in the first half, but it spoke to how poor their defense was that they were down 74-65 at halftime. Their 15 turnovers didn’t help matters. Edwards had 23 of those points a night after making just two field goals against the Lakers, tied for his fewest of the season.

Leonard did him a few points better with 28. The Wolves lost the minutes Leonard was on the floor by 20 and won the minutes he sat by 11.

“He’s a phenomenal player,” Finch said of Leonard. “He’s playing at the level that he was in Toronto, MVP finals. Kawhi. I mean, we haven’t seen this run of performance from him for a long time. ... I think at halftime, we tried to double him, he made the right play every single time, made us pay. So, yeah, he was spectacular tonight.”

Finch said a few times in his postgame comments that the run of five turnovers to open the game set the tone for the night.

“It was uphill all the way after that,” Finch said.

The Wolves’ first defensive possession of the second half featured Derrick Jones Jr. running into a sea of four Wolves players on a rebound — and being the one to get it on a tap out. Leonard then hit a three. A 16-4 Clippers spurt allowed them to take a 19-point lead, their largest lead of the night. The Wolves defense never showed up. The Clippers went on another 14-2 run at the start of the fourth quarter to push their lead past 20. No resistance from the Wolves, who looked nothing like the defensive stalwarts they were the last two seasons.

Key stat

Three: Consecutive defensive halves in which the Wolves have allowed over 70 points, extending back to the second half of their Lakers loss.

Key sequence

The beginning of the game featured a calamity of Wolves errors on both ends of the floor. It typified the issues that have plagued the Wolves throughout the season, namely a lack of focus and execution from the start. Edwards was getting beat on back cuts and the Wolves were turning the ball over, leading to easy points in transition for the Clippers. The Wolves never had the lead after being up 2-0.

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