If the Houston Rockets could play all 82 games inside the Toyota Center, they would be in championship contention as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
However, the Rockets spent Sunday night on the road battling against the current top Western Conference team. As a result, the Rockets sustained a 111-90 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves inside the Target Center.
Despite the blowout loss, the Rockets played the Timberwolves hard in the first half. A dry offensive period led to Houston trailing Minnesota by a dozen (36-24) at the 10:41 mark of the second quarter.
They had missed seven consecutive shots until Jeff Green scored on a 3-point field goal to help Houston break free of its offensive slump. The Rockets would go on to out-score the Timberwolves 20-12. As a result, Houston entered the halftime breakdown 48-44.
The Rockets were in striking distance to win their sixth road game of the season. However, Timberwolves All-Star Anthony Edwards put on a show in the second half. He scored 22 points during the third quarter, and his production led to Minnesota extending its lead to 20.
Edwards finished with a game-high 32 points on 11 of 22 shooting. He began the night with six points while missing five of his first eight attempts. Rudy Gobert finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds. Karl Anthony-Towns added 14 points and 10 rebounds in the win.
Alperen Şengün finished with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds. Cam Whitmore added 14 points off the bench. Fred VanVleet added 11 in the loss.
Road struggles are starting to become unbearable:
The Rockets dropped their first of four games amid their current road trip. But more importantly, Houston remains one of the league's worst teams away from its home court. They have notched a 5-17 record on the road while dropping six of their previous seven games in Minnesota.
Rockets received nothing from their bench unit:
Outside of Whitmore's contributions, the Rockets had arguably the worst production from their bench unit. Until the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, Houston's bench had scored a combined 17 points.
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