A battle of defensive teams
Despite the recent losing streak, the Minnesota Timberwolves still dominate the top spot in the West, and the team's defensive efficiency is still the first in the league, and in this game, the Timberwolves will take on the Houston Rockets, a team that is also good at defense. That's right, so far this season, the Rockets' offense is only ranked 19th in the league, but they occupy the eighth position in the West, relying on the fourth defensive efficiency in the league. Recently, the Rockets have won two in a row, but against only the Pistons and Nets.
This game against the Timberwolves is the real challenge for the Houston Rockets. The Timberwolves have a duo of Towns and Edwards, and they are superior to the Rockets in terms of talent. Compared with veterans, the Timberwolves also have the Jazz two veterans of Conley and Gobert, and the Rockets are Van Jordan and Dillon and Jeff Green, and the gap still exists.
Timberwolves vs. Rockets
At the beginning of the first quarter of the game, the Timberwolves showed the strength of the first in the West, Edwards scored 12 points, 2 assists and 2 steals, leading the team to 32 points in a single quarter, while the Rockets at home only scored 24 points, of which Shen Jing scored 11 points on 5-of-7 shooting, Smith had 6 points and 2 rebounds, and Jalen Green did not score a point on 0-of-3 shooting. After returning from the game in the second quarter, the Timberwolves felt down, Towns had 8 points and 3 rebounds, Reed had 5 points and 3 rebounds, but Edwards only scored 2 points on 1-of-2 shooting, and the team only scored 24 points in a single quarter.
Jalen Green found his groove and finished with 10 points and three rebounds on 3-of-6 shooting, while Shin Jing had only four points and five rebounds on 1-of-6 shooting, and the team scored 22 points in the first quarter, and at halftime, the Rockets trailed the Timberwolves by 10 points, 46-56. In the second half, Jalen Green continued to exert his strength, scoring 10 points and 2 rebounds on 4-of-6 shooting, Smith scored 6 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist, and the team scored 26 points in a single quarter, but the Timberwolves scored 28 points, Towns 7 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, Edwards 7 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, and under the leadership of the double champion, the Timberwolves successfully took a 12-point lead.
In the final quarter of the game, the Timberwolves did not give the Rockets any chance, and a wave of 16-6 small climax directly stretched the difference to 22 points, and the game lost suspense. The Timberwolves did not relax, Walker on the bench got 8 points, 1 rebound and 2 assists, Reed also had 7 points, 2 assists and 1 block, and the team scored another 38 points in a single quarter, and finally beat the Rockets by 27 points at 122-95.
Team Rocket meets Nemesis
The Timberwolves, like the Rockets, are teams that are good at defense, and they are certainly not as good as the Timberwolves when defending the Rockets, and they are slightly inferior to the offensive teams. Jalen Green made 7-of-16 shooting, with 20 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists, and was the team's highest-scoring player, Shen Jing had 19 points, 5 rebounds and 1 Hu Ge, Smith had 16 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists, and Van Jordan only had 7 points, 1 rebound and 8 assists.
The Timberwolves still relied on the double champion as an offensive arrow, Edwards shot 8 of 17, got 24 points, 3 rebounds and 5 assists, and Towns also shot 8 of 17, got 22 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists, and the two cores combined to score 46 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists, which was the key to their victory. In addition, Gobert also had 13 points and 12 rebounds, McDaniels 16 points and 3 rebounds, Reed on the bench had 16 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, Walker had 11 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists, and the team had 5 double-doubles, and Chinese player Li Kaier had 2 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.