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Wolves Can't Handle Harden In Saturday Loss

Few teams have found answers for slowing down James Harden this season.

The league’s leading scorer was held to 19 points in the Rockets’ season-opener against the Bucks (hang a banner in Milwaukee) but has scored at least 29 points in Houston’s last 12 games.

Holding Harden to 29 points probably would have been considered a feat for the Wolves on Saturday night.

The Rockets’ former MVP put up 49 points in his team’s 125-105 win over the Wolves at Target Center and accounted for 41 of Houston’s 94 field goal attempts. You might not like the way he plays, but I’ve got a hunch that Harden may be up to something.

The 7-6 Wolves threw the kitchen sink at Harden, and despite not having a particularly efficient shooting night (16-for-41 from the field and 8-for-22 from 3-point range), he continued to shoot his shot until things fell in his favor.

The Wolves did manage to hold Harden to 11 free-throw attempts, which is 3.8 attempts below his season average.

The Wolves, who were without Andrew Wiggins (personal reasons) and Shabazz Napier (right hamstring strain) once again along with Josh Okogie (left knee soreness) who was ruled out about 30 minutes before tipoff, were led in scoring by Karl-Anthony Towns who finished with 27 points on 9-for-15 shooting. Towns also recorded a team-high 15 rebounds to complete his ninth double-double of the season. He scored 18 of his 27 points in the first half and only took six shots in the second half — Harden took 18.

The Wolves were in the game throughout the first half, saw their largest lead at 21-10, and even led 74-70 three minutes into the third quarter. However, they were outscored 23-11 in the final nine minutes of the third quarter and missed 10 field goals in a row. That can’t happen against the team with the third-best offensive rating in the league.

One of the biggest bummers about Saturday night was that the Wolves’ loss overshadowed Jake Layman’s season-high scoring night. Without Wiggins and Okogie, Layman earned his first start of the regular season and accepted his promotion by providing 21 points on 9-for-14 shooting from the field and hitting three of his four 3-point attempts. Saturday night was the first time all season the Wolves have lost when Layman recoded 10 or more points.

No doubt, it was a tough weekend for the Wolves, but they were within two points of the 10-3 Rockets at halftime even without Wiggins. Yes, the Rockets were also shorthanded without Clint Capela and Russell Westbrook, but Wiggins, the Wolves’ second-half leading scorer, probably would have had a positive impact on the Wolves’ 43-point second half in which they shot just 40.5% from the field.

Let me repeat, Andrew Wiggins’ impact on this Wolves team cannot be understated. It hasn’t been officially announced when he’ll return. The Wolves play next in Utah against the 8-4 Jazz at 8 p.m. CT.