Houston Rockets Fight Off Minnesota Timberwolves 113-102

After an abbreviated, later start last week in light of the NBA All-Star break, the Houston Rockets were geared to start their first full week of action.

The Rockets finished last week with a 1-1 split of the games they played.

This week, they kicked it off by taking on the 12-43 Minnesota Timberwolves, a team that’s definitely on the track to rebuild and develop the young prospects they have put together.

Flip Saunders has been coaching the game for a long time and he certainly must have a wealth of patience because it’s going to be a while before this unit will actually be competitive enough to contend for anything.

But I’d have say it was nice watching some of the league’s up-and-coming stars go up against our team.

They fought hard throughout and I do have to give them an “A” for effort because they could’ve just rolled over and let us win!

Anyway, the 1st quarter started out quite even with the Wolves taking a 4-0 lead after a Nikola Pekovic jump hook.

Trevor Ariza got going early with a three-pointer to counter allowing the Rockets to trail by one, 4-3.

Although the Wolves took a lead by as much as six points after a Adreian Payne jump hook with 6:09 left, the Rockets fought back to lead them at the end of the 1st 26-25.

Feb 23, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets forward

Terrence Jones

(6) dunks against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports

It was more of the same for the 2nd quarter as both teams kept going back-and-forth jockeying for position and the highlight was a beautiful step-back three-pointer by James Harden with no time left on the lock to tie the game at 56-all at the half.

Not to mention that Andrew Wiggins had a high-flying dunk that seemed to wake the dead at the 4:29 mark.

The Rockets were shooting quite decently but it was the fact that they allowed 26 points — nearly half of the TWolves’ 56 points — in the paint which would definitely be the reason why they had hung around for so long.

As for the third quarter, the Rockets started to pull away at the midpoint with the team going on a 15-3 run to lead the Wolves by 10 with three minutes left. Rockets 75, Wolves 65

That run was led by the impressive shooting of Jason Terry, Josh Smith and, of course, the Beard.

And then it happened…

With just a few ticks left in the quarter, Harden had the ball at the top of the arc and I witnessed one the best crossovers I’d ever seen.

The victim you may ask?

Ricky Rubio.

Bless his heart, he tried to defend it but Harden went left, then right so quickly that Rubio lost his footing, appeared that he was ice-skating and fell on his posterior!

Feb 23, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard

James Harden

(13) passes the ball against Minnesota Timberwolves guard

Ricky Rubio

(9) in the second quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports

This was all while Harden was in the process of his signature step-back three-pointer — he, of course, sunk it with three seconds left to put Rockets up by nine over the Wolves at the end of the third! Rockets 84, Wolves 75

Harden had a nice, quick celebration shimmy after scoring his 24 point off that move accompanied by the crowd going nuts!

By then, he had already broken Twitter as every hoops fan and their mother was tweeting about what had just transpired.

What a way to end that quarter!

Rubio is one of the league’s brightest up-and-coming stars but sometimes one can still get out-dueled by the best to which right now, that’s the Beard!

R.I.P. Ricky Rubio — it was nice knowing you!

You have just become another victim of a Bearding!

Goodness gracious!

The game should’ve ended right after that moment but as far as regulations go, the Rockets had to play one more quarter.

The Rockets maintained their lead while Pablo Prigioni was finally was able to score his first points as a Rocket with 9:30 left off a wide-open layup putting the Rockets up 92-78.

He had attempted multiple times to score but to no avail as he seemed a bit nervous out there.

I believe over time that he’ll feel comfortable being a part of this offense.

Meanwhile, while Harden was on the bench resting, his 4th career triple-double was on the line.

At that point, he had 24 points, 10 assists and nine rebounds.

He only needed one more rebound to complete a feat that’s not always easy to accomplish.

Nonetheless, he finally checked in with 7:41 left.

With 6:48 left, nearly one minute later, Harden got his 10th rebound — an offensive one — to much jubilation of Rockets’ fans everywhere!

Feb 23, 2015; Houston, TX, USA; Houston Rockets guard

Pablo Prigioni

(9) out rebounds Minnesota Timberwolves guard Ricky Rubio (9) in the first quarter at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports

Although Smith missed the additional opportunity to score, it still was a marvel to witness greatness unfolding in front of my eyes.

Meanwhile, the Wolves had constructed a 7-0 run that culminated with a Wiggins three cutting their deficit to four with 6:12 left. Rockets 92, Wolves 88

The Wolves got even closer getting within one after two Pekovic free throws off a Donatas Motiejunas foul with 3:21 left. Rockets 97, Wolves 96

But that’s when Terrence Jones, Ariza and Harden went to work to put the Rockets up for good with a couple of three-pointers, a multitude of free throws, sprinkled with a bit of rebounds in between making the Rockets the victor. Final Score: 113-102

The Beard had one of the best nights of total domination I had ever seen — his final stat line was 31 points, 11 boards, 10 assists and four blocks!

Jones got the start last night and just demonstrated that his recovery after his injury is coming along just fine.

He finished the night with 15 points and 15 rebounds.

Patrick Beverley was out last night with flu-like symptoms so Terry and Prigioni had the bulk of his minutes, combining for 37 total.

Neither set the world on fire but they continued to work to make plays of both ends of the floor to help the team win.

In addition, Wiggins led the Wolves in scoring with 30 points.

In a game that I thought would be not be all that interesting, I was pleasantly surprised!