Harden puts muzzle on Wolves
Houston captain scores 34 to lead Rockets over Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS — Whenever the Minnesota Timberwolves threatened on Tuesday night, the Houston Rockets had an answer.
And it usually came from long range.
The Rockets drained 10 3-pointers in the fourth quarter to pull away for a 126-108 victory, extending their winning streak to nine.
“I knew we were making our shots, but that fourth quarter, that’s what we’re capable of,” said Rockets guard James Harden.
“I think it was a four-point game when we went on a 12-0 run. That’s how fast it was.”
Harden had 34 points, 12 assists and six rebounds. Ryan Anderson scored 21 points off the bench as the Rockets (43-13) snapped Minnesota’s 13-game home winning streak and pulled within a half-game of the Golden State Warriors for the best record in the NBA.
Karl-Anthony Towns had 35 points and 12 rebounds in Minnesota’s first home loss since Dec 16 against Phoenix. Jeff Teague added 25 points and eight assists, and Jamal Crawford came off the bench to score 11 points after starting 0 for 6 from the floor.
Minnesota led by as many as 13 in the first quarter before Houston went on a run to take a four-point halftime lead.
Trailing by 11, the Rockets used a 15-3 run to take their first lead at 35-34.
Houston used 3-pointers to keep Minnesota at bay throughout the game and then to pull away late. Anderson scored 12 in the fourth quarter, all from 3-point range.
“Ryan shoots it deep, so we have to understand that,” Timberwolves coach Tom Thibodeau said.
“He’s probably three feet beyond the 3, so you have to close and have an awareness of that.”
Anderson hit a pair of 3-pointers early in the period to push Houston’s lead back to double digits and hit two more later in the quarter.
Harden also connected three times from deep in the fourth as the Rockets connected on 10 of 16 from downtown in the final period.
“Tonight they played a big lineup so we wanted to take advantage of our switches and our mismatches, and we did that,” Anderson said.
After turning the ball over four times in the first quarter, the Rockets had just two turnovers the rest of the way.
That allowed Houston to get its offense in a rhythm in the second half, when it outscored Minnesota 72-58.
The Timberwolves trailed just 95-91, but Houston hit four straight 3-pointers to take a 107-91 lead in a span of just over two minutes.
Minnesota was just 6 of 23 from deep. Harden and Anderson each hit as many shots from behind the arc as the Wolves did as a team.
“It’s very hard to defend when they shoot 3s like that,” Towns said.
“If they’re hitting 3s and we’re coming back with 2s, they get a one-point advantage and an up-and-down possession. When they’re rolling like that, it’s very hard to stop them.”
Minnesota’s Andrew Wiggins missed his first 12 field goal attempts after shooting 55.6 percent in his previous four games. He finished just 2 for 14. The Rockets’ jerseys had the team’s name written in Chinese characters on the front to celebrate Lunar New Year.