Chase Budinger hits 35 as the Houston Rockets rout Minnesota Timberwolves 121-102
On Wednesday night, Chase Budinger and Kevin Martin combined to marshal the Houston Rockets to a 121-102 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Centre. Budinger tallied a career-high 35 points while Martin chipped in with 25 points.
The Rockets were bit sluggish to begin with, but they quickly gained pace and notched up a 10-8 lead on a Martin free throw inside the first three minutes. Houston capitalized on the momentum and went on stretching the lead. They thumped the Wolves with a 6-2 run and gained a 30-24 advantage with 1:09 left in the frame. Minnesota however bounced back with a 6-2 spurt of their own and finished the first quarter, just two points behind the Rockets at 32-30.
Martell Webster tied the score for the Wolves at 32-32, early in the second quarter. The Wolves remained within the striking distance midway through the quarter. The Rockets however changed all that in the ensuing passage as they bombarded Minnesota with a 22-10 run to go into the break with a 69-52 lead.
Staring at a 17 points deficit, the Wolves tried hard to strike back. The Rockets however still led by 84-64 with 6:01 left in the period. This was when Michael Beasley and the Wolves decided to turn the heat on. The Wolves rattled the Rockets with a 25-6 surge and reduced the deficit to just one (90-89), when the quarter ended.
The battle for domination began in the fourth quarter as both the teams fought hard to take the lead. With less than five to go, Chase Budinger dished one over the key that gave the Rockets a 107-100 lead. This really dented the spirits of the Wolves and they faded from there on. For the Rockets it was romp after that as they outplayed the Wolves with a 14-2 run to seal the victory by a huge margin of 19 points.
Despite losing the playoff berth and Rockets coach Rick Adelman still seemed happy with his team’s effort in this game.
Rick said: "I just enjoy these guys so much. You look at tonight, we scored [121] points and we had 32 assists. Really unselfish again tonight. I just love the way they finished the season. It's just like the did it all year. We could've caved in a couple of times and we never did it all year long."
Houston's Goran Dragic attained his career first triple-double with 11 points, 11 dimes and 11 boards. After the game Dragic said, "I don't know what got into me."
Courtney Lee made 22 points and the Rockets shot with a healthy average of 50 percent in the game.
Beasley counted 34 points and Anthony Randolph made 23 for the Timberwolves, who finished with the worst record in the National Basketball Association. They had lost 15 straight games to finish the season.
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