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Timberwolves overcome slow start to top Houston for fourth straight win

jace frederick, pioneer press
·3 min read

The Timberwolves woke up from hibernation in time to put away a victory against a hapless opponent. Minnesota fell behind by as many as 20 points in the first half before rallying for a 104-96 victory in Houston for its fourth straight victory.

Minnesota came out of the gates at a snail’s pace, again overlooking a lesser opponent — a consistent issue all season. Young and rudderless, the Rockets are the NBA’s worst team by record and general play. So it was almost impressive that the Wolves found a way to dig themselves a 58-38 hole at one point in the second frame.

But at any moment when the Timberwolves decided to show an interest in the contest, they quickly closed the gap or extended their lead. In the second quarter, Minnesota closed the gap to four at the break via a 16-2 run to end the half. Houston scored just 36 points over the game’s final 28 minutes.

“It was literally a matter of whenever we were going to sit down and start guarding people, we’d get back into the game no matter what the deficit was,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch told reporters postgame. “Thankfully, we decided to do it early enough that we could really close the gap going into halftime. … It was more a matter of lack of the right amount of effort. Once we got the effort right (it came together). To me, the whole part of the first half was just finding five or six guys who were going to guard.”

The Wolves (20-21) putzed around in the third to play Houston to a draw in that frame, but put away the Rockets (10-30) with ease in the fourth.

Minnesota won the final quarter 27-15. Both teams turned the ball over six times in the fourth quarter, but Minnesota held Houston to 6-for-19 shooting in the frame, while the Wolves shot 60% while going 8 for 11 over the final 12 minutes.

“We just found another gear,” Timberwolves guard Anthony Edwards told Bally Sports North in his postgame, on-court interview.

Edwards finished with 21 points in a game he didn’t expect to play as of Friday evening. After leaving Friday’s win over the Clippers with hip soreness, Edwards sounded doubtful he’d suit up in Houston, but the third-year guard did indeed play, going 37 minutes in the victory.

“It means everything. I love the game of basketball, so anytime I can come in here and play, I feel good,” Edwards said. “And they all was like, ‘You need to play tonight,’ so I can’t let my brothers down.”

D’Angelo Russell led the way with 22 points, while Rudy Gobert finished with 18 points and 11 rebounds in a performance highlighted by a final frame in which Gobert had eight points on 4-for-4 shooting to go with three rebounds.

Jaden McDaniels recorded 12 points and nine rebounds, while Taurean Prince — who was playing in his third game since missing 20 contests with a shoulder subluxation — shined off the bench with 14 points and four assists in 27 minutes. Minnesota won those minutes by 19 points.

“He was really good for us all throughout the game, made a couple clutch shots at the end of the shot clock for us,” Finch said. “So it’s great to have him back.”

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