Wolves Fall Short At Home

Wolves Postgame Audio
Kevin McHale

Craig Smith

Al Jefferson used one of his best efforts of the season to dig the Wolves out of an 11-point deficit in the fourth quarter. However, 14 points from Jefferson in the final period was not enough as the Rockets topped Minnesota 109-102 on Saturday night.

"We tried to make Yao [Ming] into a passer, he threw it up and made some shots later that he had taken early and missed, then he made some shots that we contested pretty good and we just couldn't get over the hump," head coach Kevin McHale said. "Guys made three's late, but we just couldn't get over the hump and it was just a tough game for us."

Jefferson scored eight straight points to start the fourth quarter and Minnesota cut the Houston lead to just four points. The Rockets answered every run from the Wolves and Yao Ming connected on a jumper at 7:38 to hold back any Minnesota momentum. In the late stages of the contest, Randy Foye nailed a 3-point shot that inched the Wolves to within three of Houston. The Rockets went to the 7-foot-6 center on the next possession and Ming jumped across the lane for a right hook shot to put the nail in the coffin. Ming scored 18 points and snagged five boards while the Wolves dropped their 12th straight game.

"We're playing together," Jefferson said. "We played well but we still lost so we got to keep building off that and keep moving forward. When the offense isn't going as well, we still need to step up and play good defense."

Jefferson was simply unstoppable in the fourth quarter and finished with 34 points and 13 rebounds to lead Minnesota. He helped the Wolves earn a 52-32 advantage in the paint over the Rockets. Jefferson also provided the biggest thrills for the fans with two dunks over the much taller Ming. After a slow start, Foye scored 22 points in the second half with several aggressive drives to the basket.

"You can't ask anymore from Al, Al played tremendous out there and Foye got it going in the fourth quarter," McHale said. "I thought there were some positives. I thought the ball moved a lot better tonight, I know we got stopped a couple times tonight but, we've got to keep work on that trying to get the same things in mind, keeping the ball moving."

Another blow to the Minnesota psyche was the loss of Mike Miller, again. For the second time this season, Miller suffered a right ankle injury and had to be carried to the locker room in the first quarter. Rashad McCants jumped off the bench with success early by scoring 16 points in the first half. The shooting guard would not score another point in the game with the Rockets applying heavy defensive pressure after the strong start.

The Rockets relied on 3-point shooting in the fourth quarter to answer every shot from Minnesota. A trademark from the team all season, Houston shot an incredible 52.2 percent from behind the arc and guard Aaron Brooks was 3-of-6. Tracy McGrady did most of his damage in the third quarter with ten points and 23 on the night. Ron Artest was also impressive from the 3-point line by shooting over 50 percent and added 19 points in 32 minutes of play.

"I feel like it's coming. It feels different. I don't know what is going to happen, but today I feel as if there was an extra four minutes something would have happened," Foye said.

The Wolves will have a couple of days for practice and then hit the road for games at San Antonio on Tuesday and at New York on Friday.