Wolves halt Rockets’ win streak
ANDREW Wiggins scored a team high 28 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves snapped the Houston Rockets nine-game winning streak Wednesday with a 119-105 NBA victory at the Target Center arena.
Karl-Anthony Towns tallied 23 points and 18 rebounds to post his ninth consecutive double-double and Ricky Rubio had 10 points and tied his career high with 17 assists in the Timberwolves’ second straight win.
“I’m not going to joke with you,” said Canadian Wiggins. “When we got to the fourth quarter with that kind of lead, you can’t let it slide. We did a great job of just making sure we kept the lead and stayed disciplined, and did what we needed to do.”
Brandon Rush had 12 points on four three-pointers in his first start for Minnesota and Shabazz Muhammad came off the bench to score 20 points.
“Tonight we learned a lesson and we kept attacking, especially running back on defence,” said Rubio.
The Timberwolves were without third-leading scorer Zach LaVine.
James Harden had 33 points, six rebounds and 12 assists for Houston, which had its league-best winning streak halted. Ryan Anderson added 18 points, but the Rockets shot 41 percent from the floor and 15 of 42 on 3-pointers.
“We missed a lot of uncharacteristic shots,” Anderson said. “We normally get stops and it fuels our offence on the other side. But they did a great job of being aggressive on us. We didn’t play our game.”
Elsewhere, Russell Westbrook earned his 18th triple-double to lead the Okla- homa City Thunder to a 103-95 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
“I just read the game,” Westbrook said. “You have to read it, make plays and take what the defence gives you.”
Westbrook tallied 24 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists as the Thunder improved to 24-16. The 18 triple-doubles is the most by any player since Magic Johnson in the 1981-82 season.
Brexit causes NBA concern
In Portland, Oregon, CJ McCollum scored 21 of his 27 points in the second half, and Allen Crabbe scored 24 points off the bench as the Portland Trail Blazers crushed the Cleveland Cavaliers 102-86 at Moda Center.
McCollum hit the 25-point barrier for the seventh consecutive game, and Crabbe was nine of 11 from the field as the Trail Blazers won a second straight game for the first time since early December.
LeBron James collected 20 points and 11 rebounds, and Kevin Love had 17 points and eight boards for the Cavaliers, who lost for the second straight time and are 2-2 on their sixgame road trip.
In Los Angeles, JJ Redick scored 22 points and the Los Angeles Clippers won their fifth in a row with a 105-96 victory over the Orlando Magic.
Meanwhile, NBA commissioner Adam Silver admitted on Wednesday that the Brexit vote has created un- certainty over the league’s future in London.
The Indiana Pacers were to take on the Denver Nuggets in the seventh regular season game in the English capital at the O2 arena yesterday.
But while the league would like to increase the number of games played outside the US, Britain’s place at the front of the queue is no longer guaranteed due to the ramifications of the nation’s decision to leave the European Union.
“We have studied it a lot and we still don’t know the answer,” Silver said. “It’s unclear to us what impact it will have and my sense is, from talking to our many partners back in the US, it remains unclear to them as well.”
London became the focus of much of the NBA’s international operations in the run-up to the 2012 Olympics, with the organisation’s European headquarters moving to the country’s capital city in 2007.
But Silver suggested Brex it could change t he f uture of t hat relationship, with economics not the only concern.
“We do study it and there is Brexit itself and then the symbolism of Brexit,” he said.
“This notion we have that wherever you grow up – whether in London or Beijing or Johannesburg or Paris – that if you’re the very best basketball player you’re going to come together and play in this one league.
“So we pay a lot of attention to things that potentially impact borders and, I think as a sport, we are also very focused on principles and values. That includes inclusion and diversity and respect for others.”