Clippers Get Well Quickly

The old days weren’t good or long ago for the Clippers, who say they’re determined to avoid the mistakes of their past.

Long losing streaks used to be among their biggest problems, so the Clippers savored a 93-84 victory Tuesday night over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center.

After consecutive losses, the Clippers (10-4) defeated the Timberwolves here for the first time since March 2002. Moreover, they won their fifth road game -- half of last season’s total.

Forward Corey Maggette, who made several costly mistakes late in Sunday’s loss to the Indiana Pacers at Staples Center, scored a game-high 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Forward Elton Brand had 19 points and a team-high 13 rebounds in his eighth consecutive double-double, and point guard Sam Cassell strengthened his hold on the leadership role.

Despite flu-like symptoms that prompted Coach Mike Dunleavy to consider not playing him, Cassell had 13 points and five rebounds, and led the team with six assists in more than 30 minutes. The Clippers responded to Dunleavy’s challenge to play better defense, limiting the Timberwolves to 39.2% field-goal shooting, and committed only 12 turnovers -- none in the fourth quarter.

It wasn’t perfect, but the Clippers put the past behind them.

“It feels great,” Brand said. “We felt we gave one away at home to Indiana, we should have won that one, but Coach has his stats. In his eyes, we gained that one back with this win.

“We lost two in a row, and the real elite teams don’t lose three in a row, so I was feeling kind of nervous about that. But Sam and Coach have been there before. They said don’t worry about it, we’re going to get some road wins, and it was good to win this one to start off the trip.”

It appeared Cassell might sit out the opener of the two-game trip. He did not attend the morning shoot-around, remaining at the team hotel because of aches, chills and an above-normal temperature, a team spokesman said.

Dunleavy started rookie Daniel Ewing at the point.

“I didn’t know what I could get from [Cassell], so that’s why I didn’t start him,” Dunleavy said. “He wanted to start, but I said no way.

“I tried to keep his minutes down that first half. I told him I may need him for bigger minutes in the second half.”

The Clippers led, 47-44, at halftime and opened a 72-60 lead to begin the fourth quarter after Maggette scored 10 in the third.

“You’ve got to give Coach a lot of credit,” Maggette said. “He’s been working with me on shots coming off the turn, so I’ve got to give credit to him for that type of stuff. I had some good, open looks and I made some shots.”

The Clippers went ahead, 78-62, with 10:03 left on consecutive jump shots by Maggette, and center Chris Kaman had a clear path for an uncontested dunk that would have increased the lead to 18.

Kaman, however, missed, and the Timberwolves went on a 14-0 run, cutting the lead to 78-76 at the 5:34 mark, as the Clippers struggled against a 2-3 zone defense. Kevin Garnett led Minnesota with 29 points and 13 rebounds.

Brand’s jump shot ended the run, and Maggette’s gave the Clippers an 82-78 lead with 4:01 to play.

Enter Cassell.

He made a three-point shot with 2:43 to go, giving the Clippers an 85-80 lead and silencing the crowd.

As is his style, Cassell was an extension of Dunleavy on the court, shouting instructions and taking charge during timeouts as the Clippers ended a losing streak at eight on the Timberwolves’ home court.

“I was tore up. I’m not going to lie,” Cassell said. “Whatever is in my system, I hope it gets out in 24 hours, and I’ve got like six or seven more hours to go.

“But I told him [Dunleavy] that if I come to the arena, I’m going to play. I was real dizzy all day, but this is a game that we needed to win. We needed it, and we got it.”