Improved defense fuels a surge

M I NNE A POL I S » With a baseline drive by Chris Paul and a bounce pass into the paint to Clint Capela, the Houston Rockets had what appeared to be an uncontested dunk early in the fourth quarter that would have cut Minnesota’s lead to five points.

Robert Covington closed in from behind, stopped the 6-foot10 Capela cold and, managing to avoid the body contact that would have drawn him a foul, tied up the NBA’s most accurate shooter last season to earn a jump-ball call.

Yes, the Timberwolves are playing legitimate defense these days, even after trading their best defensive player.

They erased a 19-point deficit in the final minute of the second quarter Monday night and outscored the high-octane Rockets 55-29 in the second half to notch one of the most remarkable victories in three seasons under coach Tom Thibodeau. That was the fewest points allowed in a second half by the Timberwolves in almost 11 years.

“We’ve got to change things,” said center Karl-Anthony Towns, who had a plus-17 rating in the game. “We’ve got to be the team that wants it more, and I think everyone in the building saw that. We came out with an edge to us and a fire to us to get back in the game. The one thing I’m real proud of us is that not only did we come in here and talk about it, we came and did it.”

Since the forced departure of all-star shooting guard Jimmy Butler, the Timberwolves are 8-3 with 102 points (under the average of the NBA’s stingiest team, Oklahoma City) or fewer allowed in eight of those games.