Humble Town: Rockets Dismantled by Wolves in 122-95 Blowout Loss
Black Friday. Too Tall. Trouble Brewing?
The Rockets made five of their first seven shots, and early on had a five-point lead, but once Minnesota got rolling, Houston had no answer. The Rockets were outscored in every quarter en route to a 122-95 blowout loss on Friday night. Anthony Edwards’ streak of ten consecutive games scoring at least 25 points ended, as Edwards just missed the mark scoring 24 to lead the Wolves. The streak ending didn’t matter, as Minnesota had four players score at least 16 points in a balanced attack. Karl-Anthony Towns added 22 for the Wolves, and Rudy Gobert registered 13 points and 12 boards. Jalen Green scored 20 points, on 7-for-16 shooting from the field, to lead the Rockets. Alperen Sengun scored 19 points in a below-average performance. Minnesota’s Twin Towers of Gobert and Towns overpowered Sengun on this night, and Houston’s team in general.
The squad has been competitive in the majority of their games this season, but Friday night’s loss to Minnesota wasn’t the case. The Rockets weren’t really a threat to the Wolves’ lead after the first quarter, and the game got out of hand near the end of the third period. Houston lacked the third quarter fire-power we had seen in the previous two games against the NBA’s best second-half defense in Minnesota. The Wolves were too tall and talented for a Rockets team that sorely missed Tari Eason and Dillon Brooks. Those two will remain out for Houston’s next game, as they close out their seven-game home-stand with a matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday night.
Trouble could be brewing for Houston. The next contest is the second game of a back-to-back, and the third in for nights for the Rockets. They’ll be playing a rested Milwaukee Bucks coming off an exciting win over the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night. Houston will aim to make Milwaukee’s next stop a little more challenging on Saturday night, and get rolling themselves before starting a lengthy six-game road-trip on Monday night.