MINNEAPOLIS – Karl-Anthony Towns had 29 points and 16 rebounds, and Juancho Hernangomez had 19 points off the bench in the Minnesota Timberwolves victory to beat the Houston Rockets 107-101 on Friday night.
Minnesota lost 19 in the second half, but closed with a 22-0 streak to prevent a streak of four straight losses in a day after meeting the negotiation deadline. Towns had 14 points during the final stretch, with the Timberwolves winning for the fourth time in 15 games under new coach Chris Finch.
“We won the game. It’s great, but we didn’t deserve it, ”said Towns. “I can tell you now that there was no shouting or joy in that locker room. It was a very disappointing night for all of us. “
John Wall had 14 points and the record for the season with 15 assists for Houston. Christian Wood scored 24 and Ben McLemore scored 21 points, the best of the season, in one of the seven best of the season for the rebuilding Rockets.
Houston went scoreless in the last 7:31 of the game and hit 3 of 22 in the fourth period.
“We had a good recipe for how to attack this team and we left it,” said Rockets coach Stephen Silas. “We started trying to do it on our own. … We were a little stagnant, a little disjointed. Yes, disappointing. “
The teams continue a consecutive set in Minnesota on Saturday.
Houston’s transformation took another turn on Wednesday, when he left Victor Oladipo for the Miami Heat for Kelly Olynyk, Avery Bradley and the right to change the first round’s draft choices in 2022. Olynyk and Bradley were stopped on Friday with the exchange is still pending.
With few players, the Rockets would not be able to maintain their great advantage.
After taking three points in the second and third quarters, Towns returned to put Minnesota ahead. He added eight assists.
“I thought it was a great job to just put all your frustrations aside,” said Finch of Towns. “There were a lot of frustrations throughout the game and he kind of came in, hit those two 3s early, caused the race back for us and really did a good job of playing hard, going through all the strokes and rebounds. He really got big rebounds for us. “
The Timberwolves led most of the first half while taking care of the ball. Minnesota’s first upset came with 5:16 remaining for the break. Carelessness insinuated itself and Houston took advantage.
The Rockets had a 22-7 run to close the semester, while the Wolves had five turns. Meanwhile, McLemore made his first six three-point attempts at halftime.
Wall took over in the third quarter. He made seven points and three assists to open the third, accounting for 100% of the team’s points in the stretch.
“Our driving and kicking game was great,” said Silas. “We were taking the ball to the court quickly in the first half and, kick, until the fourth half and just stopped. It just slowed down. We can’t play like that. We have to have energy in our offensive game. “
TIP-IN
Rockets: In addition to Olynyk and Bradley, Houston was also without Danuel House Jr. for personal reasons and Kevin Porter Jr. due to pain in his right hip. Eric Gordon, David Nwaba and Dante Exum remain absent due to injuries. … House did not make the trip to Minnesota due to deaths in his family, reported the Houston Chronicle.
Timberwolves: Towns took 13 points ahead of Kevin Love and placed second in the team’s history with 4,465 rebounds. Kevin Garnett has the franchise mark with 10,718. … Newcomer Anthony Edwards fought, hitting 4 out of 17 and scoring 12 points. … Hernangomez had 10 of his points in the third.
BEASLEY BACK
Finch said he expected Malik Beasley, the team’s second-highest scorer with 20.5 points per game, to return from his 12-game suspension on Saturday.
“It will just be a matter of getting in touch with the performance team and seeing what their minutes, revolutions, duration and all that sort of thing will look like,” said Finch.
——