Clippers vs. Minnesota Timberwolves preview

The Clippers play the Minnesota Timberwolves in their final game of a four-game trip on Monday at 5 p.m.

The Clippers have won two games in a row, beating Memphis and Chicago on the road.

They’ve won six of their last eight games even though they’ve been playing without their superstar power forward Blake Griffin, who remains out after having surgery Feb. 9 to remove a staph infection from his right elbow.

The Clippers (39-21) are in fifth place in the Western Conference, 25 games ahead of the last place Timberwolves (13-45). The Timberwolves have lost 10 straight games to the Clippers.

Clippers center DeAndre Jordan has been dominant in Griffin’s absence -- he combined for 48 rebounds in the Clippers’ most recent wins over the Grizzlies and the Bulls.

Kevin Garnett returned to the Timberwolves on Wednesday. Since then, the team has lost two of its three games.

Clippers starting small forward Matt Barnes sustained a strained hamstring in Sunday’s 96-86 win over the Bulls and is doubtful against the Timberwolves. Timberwolves center Nikola Pekovic was limited to 12 minutes in Saturday’s 101-97 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies because of a sore right foot. Timberwolves’ forward Anthony Bennett (sprained right ankle), forward Robbie Hummel (fractured right hand) and forward Shabazz Muhammad (had surgery to repair a ruptured ligament in the middle finger on his left hand) are out.

In the team’s last game on Dec. 1, the Clippers won, 127-101. In that game, the Clippers outshot the Timberwolves from the field, 51% to 43%, and from beyond the three-point line, 44% to 17%. The Clippers also outrebounded the Timberwolves, 50-32.

After playing the Timberwolves, the Clippers will return home from their week-long trip to host the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday.