By Lisa Dillman, Los Angeles Times
What had been widely anticipated finally happened, with the Clippers taking small forward Al Thornton out of the starting lineup.
Thornton, who was a combined four for 18 in back-to-back losses at Utah on Friday and at home against Dallas on Saturday, was supplanted by Rasual Butler, who had 12 points against Minnesota, including eight in the fourth quarter.
"You also have to take into consideration the personnel he's playing against," Dunleavy said. "He's had four pretty rough customers: [Ron] Artest in the first game, Grant Hill in the second game, [Andrei] Kirilenko the third game, and then [Shawn] Marion in the fourth game.
"All those guys, other than maybe Grant Hill, are bigger and stronger than he is. I think it's too early to jump the gun on it."
