MINNEAPOLIS – For the Clippers, getting a play-in game against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center presented something of a loaded proposition.
Because, personally, there’s a lot of history in that building against those guys; Tuesday’s 7 vs. 8 matchup to decide the seventh seed in the Western Conference playoffs only adds to it.
There’s Patrick Beverley, the Clippers’ culture-setter for the past few seasons now is a member of the T’Wolves. Predictably, they’ve benefited plenty from his defensive bite and competitive will.
His buddy, Clippers center Ivica Zubac, said Beverley didn’t answer his FaceTime call this week. But then, Zubac didn’t answer when Beverley FaceTime’d him. They’d just have to connect on the court.
Robert Covington, a newish Clipper and former Wolves wing, remains close with T’Wolves star Karl-Anthony Towns. But both players and their supporters knew they would have to bury that mutual admiration for 48 minutes.
“I was talking to Karl. He said, ‘(Tuesday), it’s war.’” Covington said before shootaround at the arena Tuesday. “I said, ‘Yeah, you right.’
“Even my sister (Karl’s girlfriend, whom Covington considers like family), she’s like, ‘Yeah, we’re family today, but tomorrow I can’t cheer for you.’ I said, ‘Look, I understand. For that 48 minutes, cheer for who you gotta cheer for. Once that 48 minutes over, we family again.’”
Walking into Target Center for shootaround also stirred memories for rookie Brandon Boston Jr., the former Chatsworth Sierra Canyon High School star who played to a sold-out crowd there during the Trailblazers’ barnstorming tour in 2019-20. Sierra Canyon lost in their visit to the Gopher State, falling 78-58 to Minnehaha Academy, but Boston had 27 points and eight rebounds.
State of Hockey?
High School Basketball is BIG in Minnesota. Minnehaha vs. Sierra Canyon tonight at Target Center. #ClashofChampions pic.twitter.com/gNgaujXUo8
— George G. Ellis (@GeorgeGEllis) January 5, 2020
“There were 17,000 (people) or something,” Boston said. “It was crazy.”
And how does it feel to be back now, 20 years old and part of a team getting its first taste of the win-and-in NBA play-in?
Boston smiled: “It’s where I’m supposed to be at.”
The Clippers’ resident Gopher entered the building with perhaps the fondest Target Center recollection.
Minnesota native Amir Coffey, who played three collegiate seasons for the Golden Gophers before turning pro, hit what he characterized as “probably one of the craziest shots ever” there when he was a high school sophomore in 2014.
“It was, I want to say the semifinals of state?” Coffey offered, correctly. “Fourth overtime. Tie game with three seconds left. And I shot a three-fourths-of-the-court shot.
“And it dropped.”
It was a wild ending to a bizarre game that lifted Hopkins High School, out of Minnetonka, over Shakopee High, 49-46, and into the Minnesota AAAA finals.
Because Minnesota high school basketball didn’t implement a shot clock until last year, Hopkins head coach Ken Novak directed his players to do nothing but dribble out the clock out for the final three minutes of regulation and first two overtimes in an attempt to outlast their opponent.
Finally, in the third OT, Shakopee took a pair of three-point leads, but Hopkins eventually tied the game at 46-46, forcing a fourth extra period, when Coffey’s heave splashed through.
“Yeah, wasn’t a shot clock,” Coffey said. “So we dribbled it out for a possession. It was a lot of controversy on it. But we did what we wanted at that time. Ended up with a win. So (that’s) all that matters.”
This is the look Hopkins’ Amir Coffey had tonight for his 57-foot (I just measured it) buzzer-beater. #StateHoops pic.twitter.com/wyhvaoFias
— Chris Long (@ChrisLongKSTP) March 14, 2014
Here’s John Autey’s great photo of Amir Coffey’s game-winning buzzer-beater from half-court: http://t.co/fyJe6INb4x pic.twitter.com/zR05q0ZhDJ
— Nick Woltman (@nickwoltman) March 14, 2014
Hopkins Amir Coffey Buzzer Beater in 4 OT (HD)
Will forever be unreal
— Peech (@EthanPeachy) November 6, 2015
NO KENNARD
Shooting guard Luke Kennard was out for Tuesday’s game, remaining in L.A. to rehab a sore right hamstring that kept him out of the Clippers’ victory over Phoenix last week and caused him to exit early in Sunday’s season-ending blowout win over Oklahoma City.
Kennard, 25, is shooting a career-best and league-leading 44.9% from 3-point range this season.
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