Rockets-Timberwolves Preview

By ALAN FERGUSON
Posted Feb 04 2012 1:08AM

Almost two weeks ago, Houston Rockets coach Kevin McHale made a triumphant return to his home state.

Having cooled off a little since their longest win streak in four seasons, the Rockets will try to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves and former coach Rick Adelman again during the opener to a season-high, six-game road trip Saturday night.

McHale, a native of Hibbing, Minn. and a former star for the University of Minnesota, worked in various capacities for the Timberwolves after his retirement as a player following the 1992-93 season until he was fired as the team's coach after the 2008-09 campaign, his second stint in that role.

McHale returned to coaching when Houston hired him last June and had the team heading in the right direction for much of the past month following a 3-7 start. The Rockets (13-10) won seven straight, capped by a 107-92 victory at Target Center on Jan. 23, before splitting their last six games.

The Timberwolves dealt Houston one of those three losses, 120-108 on Monday in Adelman's return to Texas. The Rockets also blew a 19-point lead during a 99-91 defeat in San Antonio on Wednesday but rebounded Friday with a 99-81 rout of visiting Phoenix.

Houston was never threatened after scoring a season-high 59 points and building a 20-point lead by halftime. Kevin Martin's 16 points led a group of seven players in double figures, and the Rockets' reserves totaled 50 points and 23 rebounds.

"The bench is really getting that chemistry together," forward Chase Budinger said. "We're getting used to playing with one another. We start finding where guys like the ball, and also we're bringing energy out there."

The Rockets, though, are 3-7 away from home this season and will face a team that's won four of six. The Timberwolves earned their sixth road win Friday - surpassing their total from each of the past two seasons - by hanging on for a 108-105 victory over New Jersey.

Luke Ridnour hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 1:23 remaining, and Nikola Pekovic had a career-high 27 points and 11 rebounds off the bench. Kevin Love also contributed 20 points despite missing 11 of 16 shots.

Minnesota (11-12) is 6-4 on the road and has won three in a row there. The Timberwolves, though, are 5-8 at Target Center and are on the verge of their second three-game losing streak there.

They've also failed in their four previous attempts at a .500 record this season.

"I wish (we could play more on the road)," Love said. "If it was that way we'd be over the doomed .500 mark that we can't seem to get over. I really don't even want to talk about it because it's kind of been our Achilles' heel."

Minnesota hasn't been .500 or better this late in a season since it was 22-22 on Jan. 30, 2007, and a visit from the Rockets wouldn't appear its best chance to accomplish that feat.

Houston has won eight in a row at Target Center and 15 of the past 17 overall matchups. Another strong performance from Martin in Minnesota could help his team extend its streak.

The Rockets guard has averaged 30.0 points in his last four games there and 27.6 in his last seven overall matchups.

Love has scored at least 29 points in each of the two meetings this season and had a season-high 39 in the Jan. 23 defeat. Beasley tied a franchise record for a bench player with 34 points during the win in Houston.

Love leads T-Wolves past Rockets 100-91

Posted Feb 05 2012 12:00AM

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) The Minnesota Timberwolves are mediocre. Considering how bad they have been in recent years, it's a huge accomplishment.

Love scored 25 points and grabbed 18 rebounds to lead the Timberwolves over Kevin McHale's Houston Rockets 100-91 on Saturday night, pushing Minnesota's record to 12-12.

"It does feel good to be .500 right now, but like I said, we still want to come out and keep this thing going in the right direction," said Love, the player McHale, the former Minnesota general manager and coach, traded for on his final draft night with the Wolves in 2008.

The last time Minnesota was at or better than .500 this late in the season was the 2006-07 season. Of course, the Wolves had played almost double the games that season then they have in this lockout shortened slate.

Call it progress.

The feat was overshadowed, though, by an ugly third-quarter incident in which Love stepped on Luis Scola's face and chest after hacking him to the ground on a drive.

Replays showed the step knocked Scola's head against the court as Love turned to head back up. Love called the incident unintentional and a "heat-of-the-moment type play."

A Wolves spokesman said Love apologized to Scola in the Rockets locker room after the game.

"He was kind of right there, and you know, I've got size-19 feet," Love said. "So he just happened to be there, I had nowhere to go. I got kind of tripped up, and I just had nowhere to step."

Scola said he was more angry that Love wasn't called for the first foul.

"I have no way of knowing," he said when asked if he thought it was intentional. "If it was intentional, they didn't call it. At this point, I don't care."

It wasn't the first incident between Love and Scola this season. On Monday, Love lay on the court in pain after taking a pass from Scola in the groin.

"He was right there, it happened to be his face just like in Houston where it happened to be my groin," Love said. "I've always had a large amount of respect for Luis. I'm sure he didn't take it personally, and it obviously was nothing personal toward their team."

The Rockets bench complained loudly and was hit with a technical foul on the next possession, and Scola was also assessed a technical about a minute later.

Houston kept its composure well enough to close the quarter on an 8-4 run to pull within nine to start the fourth.

Aside from the incident, Scola also had a memorable game offensively with 24 points. Kyle Lowry had 24 points and 11 assists, but Kevin Martin scored a season-low two points on 1-for-10 shooting.

It was only the second time this season Martin, who entered the game averaging 20.7 points, didn't score in double figures. It was his fewest point total since March of 2007, when he scored one point for Sacramento against Phoenix.

"We had one of those crazy nights," McHale said. "We had breaks and we missed layups. It was a bizarre night. We had it at the rim and we couldn't get it to go."

Even so, the Rockets pulled within three with five minutes to play. But Minnesota scored 10 of the next 14 and led 98-89 when Ricky Rubio drove for a layup with 2:26 to effectively put the game out of reach.

Rubio had 13 points and 11 assists for Minnesota.

Luke Ridnour added 22 points for the Wolves, who won for the fifth time in seven games.

"We're just keeping our composure this year, and we've got a lot of guys out there on the court that can handle the ball, I think that makes a big difference for us," Ridnour said.

NOTES: A night after scoring a career-high 27 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, Nikola Pekovic started for Darko Milicic, who sat out with a bruised left quadriceps. ... The two teams faced each other for the third time in less than two weeks. "It's a crazy schedule," Wolves coach Rick Adelman said. "They want us to vote on the reserves for the All-Star Game, I haven't even seen four or five of the teams" ... Asked if he saw Pekovic as a "27-and-10 guy" when he drafted him in the second round in 2008, McHale quipped: "You guys are unbelievable, you got him rated just below Wilt Chamberlain right now?"

Notebook: Timberwolves 100, Rockets 91

By Phil Miller, for NBA.com
Posted Sunday February 5, 2012 12:11AM

THE FACTS: Kevin Love scored 25 points, collected 25 rebounds, and helped the Timberwolves reach .500 for the first time in more than five years Saturday night, as Minnesota held off Houston, 100-91. The Rockets were led by Luis Scola and Kyle Lowry with 24 points apiece, but Minnesota built a 16-point second-half lead and broke an eight-game Target Center losing streak to the Rockets.

Houston, playing the first of a six-game road trip, closed within three points twice in the fourth quarter, but the Timberwolves nailed three critical 3-pointers in the final eight minutes and improved to 12-12 on the season. Not since January 2007 had the Wolves reached .500 beyond the first week of a season.

Guard Luke Ridnour scored 22 points, including a pair of fourth-quarter 3-pointers, and Ricky Rubio added 13 points and 11 assists for Minnesota.

Love and Scola engaged in some physical gamesmanship under the basket all night, and it erupted with a controversial play midway through the third quarter. Scola received the ball near the basket and turned into the lane, when Love pounded the ball out of his hands, dropping Scola to the floor. As Love turned around to run up the floor, he stepped on Scola's face. No foul was called on the strip or the step, and the Rockets' bench erupted, with coach Kevin McHale having to be held off the floor as he complained. Houston's bench received a technical foul, and Scola was whistled for another a minute later.

QUOTABLE: "I've got size 19 feet. Where am I supposed to step?"
-- Love, after stepping on Scola's face under the Rockets' basket, a play he said was accidental.

THE STAT: 25.6 -- Points below his scoring average as a Rocket vs. Minnesota for guard Kevin Martin, who made only 1-of-10 shots from the field for two points. Martin had scored 193 points in Houston's last seven games with the Wolves, more than 20 points in each.

TURNING POINT: The Wolves missed their first eight shots of the fourth quarter and allowed Houston, which had trailed by 13 late in the third quarter, to close within four points. Rick Adelman called a timeout with 7:56 to play and inserted guard Luke Ridnour into the game. On Minnesota's first possession, Ridnour spotted up and sank a 3-pointer, then did it again two minutes later, allowing the Wolves to keep the Rockets at bay despite shooting 25 percent for the quarter.

QUOTABLE II: "It was very quick. I couldn't tell what brand they were."
-- Houston forward Luis Scola, after saying he got a "taste" of Kevin Love's shoe during a third-quarter play.

HOT: The Wolves, who haven't had a winning season since 2004-05, won for the fifth time in seven games and reached .500 this late in a season for the first time in more than five years, since Jan. 29, 2007.

NOT: Martell Webster played his sixth game since returning from September back surgery, but his shooting touch hasn't yet returned. Webster missed seven of his eight shots, and is now shooting 33.3 percent (13-39) for the year.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Kevin Love's big night is nothing new -- it was his 19th game with 20 or more points and 10 or more rebounds already this season. But Love might not help fantasy teams next week if he is suspended for stepping on Luis Scola's head during a physical play under the basket.

ROOKIE WATCH: Second-round pick Chandler Parsons reached double figures for the second night in a row for the Rockets, the first time he's done that all season. Parsons scored 11 points with seven rebounds, but took 14 shots to do it, making only five. Parsons is shooting only 40.1 percent in his 17 games as a starter.

NOTABLE: Wolves center Darko Milicic was inactive after a flare-up of the contusion in his left calf left him limping before the game. Milicic missed three games last week, including Minnesota's victory in Houston, due to illness, and had played only two games before sitting out again. ... Anthony Randolph was on the active roster for the first time in three games, but did not play. ... Guard Wayne Ellington, who reached double figures five times in seven games midway through January, has lost his playing time to a healthy J.J. Barea. Ellington did not play Saturday, while Barea scored 10 points with three assists in 26 minutes. ... Rockets guard Kyle Lowry, who leads all NBA point guards in rebounding with a 6.3 average, was held to just two boards.

UP NEXT: For the Rockets, Monday @ Denver, Wednesday @ Portland, Thursday @ Phoenix. For the Timberwolves, Tuesday vs. Kings, Wednesday @ Memphis, Friday vs. Mavericks.

• Rockets: Morris, Thabeet
• Timberwolves: Lee, Milicic

• Rockets: Scola
• Timberwolves: --

• Lead Changes: 6
• Times Tied: 4

• Arena: Target Center, Minneapolis, MN
• Officials: #49 Tom Washington, #45 Brian Forte, #54 Nick Buchert
• Attendance: 19356
• Duration: 2:06