Wolves toss up a dud against Clippers

The last time the Timberwolves played the Los Angeles Clippers, they left Staples Center in February with a comeback victory that might have changed their season's course.

On Wednesday, the two teams played again, and this time the Wolves' lifeless 99-79 loss at Target Center showed it's probably a good thing interim head coach Sam Mitchell doesn't consider himself a reflective man.

This time, he certainly was brief.

Calling Wednesday's loss the "worst game" this season, Mitchell's postgame media address lasted little more than 30 seconds, giving him just enough time to call his team unrecognizable at game's beginning and chide media members.

"Like I told them, I wish you guys would stop asking me questions about how good they can be," Mitchell said. "We have 25 wins. They still have to learn how to play basketball. They still gotta grow up. They still gotta understand."

The Wolves have had other lopsided defeats — a 27-point loss at Dallas, a 26-point loss to Cleveland and a pair of 25-point losses to San Antonio, among them — and other bad games, such as losses to Denver and Milwaukee.

But this one, the worst?

Point guard Ricky Rubio wasn't quite as definitive, but he wasn't about to argue with "the worst" description, either.

"Well, look back and see all the games we played," he said. "Absolutely, it's one of the worst. But it's not because the way we lost. It's the way we play. Nobody feel comfortable out there. Nobody had momentum. It was bad."

The Wolves' 108-103 victory at Staples Center in February ended a 3-20 stretch. They went 11-13 in the next seven weeks before they trailed by 33 points Wednesday and lost by 20.

That victory came one night after the Wolves lost in L.A. to the lowly Lakers. Before Wednesday's game, Rubio called the victory over the Clippers the next night "something we're going to look back and say it is one of the games that got us better."

Before Wednesday game, Clippers coach Doc Rivers called the Wolves noticeably improved and one of those rare teams that scores abundantly without relying upon the three-point shot.

Then his team went out and squashed the Wolves, holding them to a season-low 34.5 shooting percentage and forcing Rubio and backcourt mate Zach LaVine into a 2-for-15 shooting night. The Wolves weren't much better elsewhere: Backup point guard Tyus Jones was 1-for-10, starter Gorgui Dieng was 1-for-6.

"It was everybody," Rivers said about his team's defense.

Young Wolves star Andrew Wiggins was 3-for-9 before he experienced something literally that his team did figuratively: He took one on the chin.

Wiggins left the game in the third quarter after he was struck in the face and sustained a laceration on his chin that required stitches to close.

The Wolves struggled to make a shot. LaVine threw a pass intended for Rubio toward the fifth row, saying later it slipped out of his hand on a scoreless night. Collectively, they showed no resilience against a Clippers team still missing Blake Griffin and Paul Pierce, too.