With the Wolves’ comeback win over the Rockets on Monday, it seems appropriate to take a look back at Corey Brewer’s 51-point outing against James Harden and Co. back in 2014.
The Wolves were without their three biggest scoring options: Kevin Love, Kevin Martin and Nikola Pekovic. So what did Brewer do? Scored enough for all of them. In a narrow 112-110 victory, Brewer’s slashing ability was on full display as he sliced apart Houston’s defense.
An incredible 16 of Brewer’s 19 buckets came from inside three feet. He managed to reach the 50-point mark while making just two threes—quite a rarity in the NBA. He also grabbed six steals.
Maybe he should have been the team’s star all along!
“I think Pek and the two Kevins have been holding him back,” Wolves head coach Rick Adelman joked after the game.
The 2014 season wasn’t the Wolves’ best, but the late-season victory over the Rockets spurred by Brewer’s incredible performance gave fans something to celebrate.
After the game, Brewer was all smiles.
“The energy was great tonight, you know, the fans were behind me,” he said. “I could hear them saying get 50, get 50. When you get 50, you know, it’s kind of been a disappointing year for us. To give the fans something to cheer about means a lot.”
Ricky Rubio was very happy for his teammate and friend.
“Everybody’s so happy (for him), you know?” he said. “Running up and down, seems like he had energy forever and he never stops. It’s just, I don’t know how he was doing it, but (he was) getting to the rim every time and it was fun.”