MINNEAPOLIS _ Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers threw in the proverbial towel on Tuesday's 123-109 loss to the Timberwolves and just maybe on his team's chances to threaten the Wolves for one of the West's final playoff spots, too.
Rivers sent his reserves into the game with the Wolves leading by 17 points with nearly 7{ minutes remaining while most of coach Tom Thibodeau's starters played on until the final minutes.
By ending a two-game losing streak to San Antonio and Houston, the Wolves put three games between them and the Clippers and 2{ games between them and Denver in pursuit of a Western Conference playoff spot.
Placed eighth in the West when the night began, the Wolves also swept their four-game season series with the Clippers. It's the second time they've swept the Clippers in a season series and the first time since 2004, which also is the last time the Wolves reached the playoffs.
They did so with veteran point guard Jeff Teague and young stars Andrew Wiggins and Karl-Anthony Towns leading the way.
Towns delivered a 28-point, 10-rebound double-double while Teague had 20 points and 12 assists before he checked out of the game with more than five minutes left.
Wiggins went 9 for 16 from the field _ including 4 for 5 on 3-pointers _ and scored 27 points.
Towns played 40 minutes and did not come out of the game until Cole Aldrich replaced him with 1:37 to play. At that point, the Wolves led by 16 points.
The Clippers lost their fourth consecutive game while they played without injured Danilo Gallinari (hand), Avery Bradley (abdominal) and Patrick Beverley (knee).
The Wolves played the second half without guard Derrick Rose, who in his fourth game after being signed as a free agent sprained his ankle during Tuesday's first half and did not play again.
After leading by four points and trailing by six points in the first half, the Timberwolves intensified their defense and came out of halftime with a 13-1 burst that changed the game.
The Clippers missed their first eight shots of the third quarter, committed two turnovers and went nearly eight minutes with scoring a field goal from late in the second quarter to early in the third.
That turned the Wolves' 59-58 halftime lead into a 72-59 advantage with little more than four minutes gone in the third quarter.
They did so when Teague and Wiggins combined to score 23 points in a third quarter when the Wolves outscored the Clippers 36-25 and built a 95-83 lead by quarter's end.
