The Houston Rockets have won four games at the Minnesota Timberwolves thanks to an outstanding James Harden game. In the third quarter, the guests lay on 50 points and win with 119:100 (BOXSCORE) without any problems.
The Wolves made life really difficult for James Harden at first, but Houston benefited early from Trevor Ariza, who scored the first 11 Rockets points. On the other hand, it didn’t take Karl-Anthony Towns 3 minutes to pick up two quick fouls, and a few minutes later Jeff Teague left the game in pain. But as Houston could not find a rhythm, the Wolves stayed close, after a quarter both teams had scored 21 points.
Teague and Towns returned – and this gave the Wolves some momentum. The Rockets put three of them on the ring one after the other, while the hosts were looking for a quick offense and the way to the basket. Derrick Rose also helped with his Speed in Transition. But Houston struggled slowly, Harden’s first two litters brought the guests back to the lead (40:41). But the bearded man quickly cooled down again and could not score against Towns in isolation, yet the Rockets went into the cabin with a minimal 50:49 lead.
But it took revenge that the Wolves didn’t take better advantage of the Rockets’ problems in the first run, this time the guests opened with a 13-2 run, led by Harden and two threesomes by Chris Paul. A time-out didn’t help Minnesota either: Harden came to the basket, the field opened for Houston and in the middle of the quarter the lead was already 20 points. And it went on and on: Harden could no longer miss, his 22 points in the quarter set the franchise record in the playoffs. The Rockets made 50 points (!!!!) in these 12 minutes, with a 100:69 lead into the final section.
But Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau hadn’t given up yet and left his starters on the field, where Karl-Anthony Towns could increase his score a little, five minutes before the end the gap was “only” 18 points. But the Wolves didn’t get any closer with the starters, 120 seconds before the end the towel was finally thrown.
Best scorer of the Rockets was James Harden, who scored 36 points (12/26 FG, 5/11 trio), in addition in CP3 (25, 6 Assists) and Eric Gordon (18) also the other Guards were in a good mood. Clint Capela (14, 17 rebounds, 4 blocks) marked a double-double like Towns (22 and 15) on the other side. Jimmy Butler (19) and Rose (17) provided a little support for KAT, Wiggins finished the game with 14 points.
Houston leads the series with 3-1 and can make it into the Conference Semifinals on the night from Wednesday to Thursday at the Toyota Center at home. There the winner of the series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Utah Jazz would wait.
Minnesota Timberwolves v Houston Rockets 100:119, Series 1:3 (BOXSCORE)
James Harden. Yes, the start was extremely weak, but when the MVP candidate had found his game to some extent, things went uphill with Houston. Especially the run at the beginning of the third quarter was the decisive blow to the Wolves in retrospect (16 points in 6 minutes, 22 in the quarter). Also important was his post-defense against Towns, where Houston could not double because Towns could not punish him.
Andrew Wiggins. It’s the old story with the Canadian. While Butler, Towns or Rose were aggressive, Wiggins was hardly to be seen. From the distance little ran together (1/5 threesome), his drives were stopped almost without problems. Consequently, the worst plus-minus value of all players (-30) stood for also in the boxing score.
The Wolves’ big problem was once again called Spacing. Through Taj Gibson, P.J. Tucker could act as a cleaner and brought help time and again, especially against Towns. As soon as Minnesota attacked the ring, Tucker oriented himself towards the player with the ball, clogging the zone. Houston gave up a few offensive rebounds, but Minny could not punish that, because the player with the offensive board was usually surrounded by three Rockets players.
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