Dunleavy tinkers with substitutions

MINNEAPOLIS — Concerned about the team’s lack of energy at times, Clippers Coach Mike Dunleavy re-evaluated his approach to handling players on the six-game, 10-day trip that ends tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The Clippers have been out of sync since traveling to Russia in the exhibition season, Dunleavy said, and they’re often a step slow on offense and defense compared with last season.

“It doesn’t really matter what the situation is, we have to find a way to correct it,” Dunleavy said. “That’s what I’m looking for.”

Dunleavy altered his substitution pattern in Monday’s 100-90 victory over the New Orleans Hornets, increasing the role of seldom-used forward James Singleton, who played 20 minutes in his longest stint since Dec. 22. Dunleavy said he plans to continue to tweak things, rotating players into games more quickly in an attempt to improve stamina.

Dunleavy compared the Clippers to a new cellphone battery that wasn’t completely charged on its first use and needs more juice.

“Just from talking to guys I know in other sports who have taken their teams [out of the country] before the season starts, they’ve told me that it always takes time to get back to where you need to be” in terms of energy, Dunleavy said. “One guy told me it took his team two months to kind of get over it, so you just try to hold it together as best you can.

“We have basically the same team as we did last year, and the philosophy is the same, so, yeah, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out why the stuff was so much sharper last year on film. We’ve never been in this position before, so I didn’t have anything to compare it to, and I don’t know if this is going to work, but you just keep trying to fix it.”

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Sam Cassell said his injured heel was sore after his 31-point, 35-minute effort in Monday’s victory. Cassell was held out of practice Tuesday to rest and said he expected to play tonight.

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Corey Maggette, who sat out the last two games because of a sore left foot, participated in practice and might play tonight.

TONIGHT

at Minnesota, 5 PST, FSN Prime Ticket

Site -- Target Center.

Radio -- 710.

Records -- Clippers 16-19, Timberwolves 17-15.

Record vs. Timberwolves -- 0-1.

Update -- Power forward Kevin Garnett scored 25 points in Minnesota’s 104-96 victory over the Clippers on Nov. 25 at the Target Center. Sam Cassell scored 31 points.

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