EditorsNote: adds city in lede
Paul George scored 46 points and Kawhi Leonard added 42 as the Los Angeles Clippers showed off their star power Friday and held on for a 124-117 victory Friday over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Minneapolis.
Leonard and George became the first duo in Clippers history to each score at least 40 points in a game.
Montrezl Harrell added 18 points off the bench as the Clippers won despite playing without a true point guard. Patrick Beverley sat out after leaving the Wednesday game at Toronto with a concussion, while Lou Williams also was sidelined with a sore right calf.
Despite the lack of a playmaker, the Clippers delivered 16 assists to 17 for the Timberwolves. George had seven of those assists for the Clippers, who won their fourth consecutive game, all on the road.
The Timberwolves went to work with their own scoring duo as Karl-Anthony Towns scored 39 points and Andrew Wiggins added 34. Towns added 12 rebounds and stayed in the game despite an injury to his left knee with 1:42 remaining.
The Timberwolves lost their seventh consecutive game overall and their seventh consecutive home game.
The Clippers led 33-29 after one quarter and extended the advantage to 65-58 at halftime by shooting 47.7 percent from the field and forcing Minnesota into 10 turnovers.
Los Angeles outscored the Wolves 37-23 in the third quarter to take a 102-81 lead, leading by as many as 27 in the period. But Minnesota refused to go away, going on a 25-9 run to open the fourth quarter and cutting the deficit to four points twice in the final 1:04.
The Clippers managed to close out the victory as George shot 17 of 31 from the field and 6 of 15 from 3-point range. Leonard went 10 of 24 overall and 3 of 3 from long distance while making all 19 of his free throws.
Rodney McGruder scored four points for Los Angeles in his first game since Nov. 27 after sitting out with a hamstring injury. Terance Mann added three assists in 17 minutes while making his fourth start of the season.
Jeff Teague scored 22 points and Robert Covington added 10 for the Wolves, who finished 38 of 85 (44.7 percent) from the field but just 10 of 41 (24.4 percent) from 3-point range.
--Field Level Media
