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Thursday, Mar. 30 8:00pm ET
Rockets suffer worst loss of season | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Rudy Tomjanovich has a good idea why his Houston Rockets endured their worst loss of the season. "Spotting them 24 points in transition doesn't work," the Rockets coach said after Thursday night's 122-90 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves. "We're supposed to be a running team. But you've got to run both ways." Against the Timberwolves, the Rockets ran neither on offense nor on defense. They shot just 37 percent from the field, while the Timberwolves shot 60 percent. Kevin Garnett scored 25 points and had nine rebounds and Terrell Brandon added 21 points and 13 assists. Minnesota's 52 field goals and 39 assists (compared with just 13 by Houston) were the most the Rockets allowed all year. The Rockets' streak of 473 straight games with at least one 3-pointer ended with an 0-for-11 night from 3-point range. Houston's streak was the second-longest in NBA history, behind Miami's current run of 494 games in a row. "We had a lot of open looks tonight and I'm normally not used to getting open looks, but I couldn't knock anything down. Nobody could," said Rockets rookie Steve Francis, who was 3-for-10 from the field and missed four 3s. The Timberwolves looked relaxed in winning by more than double the margin of their previous five games, which had been decided by a combined 15 points. Minnesota has won seven of eight and is 2½ games behind the Phoenix Suns in the race for fourth place and homecourt advantage in the Western Conference. "I think that winning has got us loose enough," said Garnett. "Not really loosey-goosey like we would like to be. But I think the winning and the fact that we're playing well together has got us really loose. Not to the point where we'll slack off though." It was the eighth straight road loss for Houston, which was led by Walt Williams' 18 points. Francis and Kenny Thomas had 16 each for the Rockets. "You've got to give them credit for defense, but we did miss some of our shots," said Tomjanovich. Twelve of the 13 players on Minnesota's roster scored at least two points. Dean Garrett was the only player who didn't score. "We're trying to get guys prepared for the playoffs so everyone is sharp," said Saunders. "It keeps guys healthier." For the first nine minutes, Houston looked like it was going to force both teams to keep up with the Rockets' frantic pace in which Houston had scored over 120 points in back-to-back games earlier in the week. But poor shooting, sloppy passing and several embarrassing turnovers doomed Houston, which is 0-4 against Minnesota this season. "They've got a lot of guys that can shoot the ball," said Williams. "When you go against a guy like Kevin Garnett who commands so much attention, other guys are going to reap the benefits from that." Game notesHouston's last three games have been decided by 110 points. ... The Timberwolves are 12-3 in March. That ties the team record set in January for the franchise's best month. ... Houston's eight-game road losing streak is a season high. ... The Wolves shot 71.4 percent in the first quarter. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Houston Clubhouse Minnesota Clubhouse Gov. Ventura asked to leave game after harassing refs
RECAPS Phoenix 118 Atlanta 74
Minnesota 122
San Antonio 102
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