NBA Recap: The Houston Rockets steam the season with their first win 120-94 against the Timberwolves
The Houston Rockets finally succeeded in winning their first streak of the season. They banged the game for the Minnesota Timberwolves as they trounced through the match victorious 120-94. The game was witnessed by a huge crowd
of 15,058 at Toyota Centre in Houston.
The Rockets gave a tremendous performance as four of the five starters succeeded in scoring double figures. Luis Scola scored 24, K. Martin summed up 21 for his 9 for 13 shooting and Shane Battier scored 12 points and seven rebounds.
During his 17 minutes of action, Yao Ming cheered up the team with 13 points and four rebounds.
Minnesota Timberwolves were not behind the Rockets as Kevin Love added 16 points and kicked 16 boards to clinch their way.
Yao Ming was praised by Rick Adelman as he later said, “We did a much better job of finding Yao; taking it away and then coming to him and reposting him. [The Wolves] had trouble guarding him so we wanted to be sure we went to
him.”
The Rockets accomplished 14 assists on 18 field goals. He got to the free throw line 23 times in the first half.
U-turn: The end of the first half opened up a happy beginning for the Houston Rockets that extended their lead to 26-14. This was a great beginning of the 2nd quarter. The Rockets never faltered and
kept their score high with double figures after that, never letting the Timberwolves howl again.
Kevin Martins is a shining star of the Rockets with his 16 for 23 overall and 5 for 9 that he has scored from a 3 point range.
The Wolves howl lowered to a low moan by the noisy Rockets
The Wolves could not gain momentum in shooting and could only make 14 out of their 41 attempts in the first half of the game. The only player who could be declared better than the rest of the 50 percent of the players in the first
half was Darko Milicic, who could only produce one shot.
Scola steals the show for the Rockets
Luis Scola, a 6 foot 9 forward from the Houston Rockets won them 24 points and 8 rebounds. He has been successful in leading a 20-point mark in five out of six games that he has played for the Rockets this season.
Shane Battier later described the Rockets rookie point guard Ishmael Smith in this fashion: “Ishmael Smith is what the old-school guard would call a speed merchant. It's unsettling to play against guys like
that ... guys who constantly put pressure on you with their speed.”
Ishmael Smith was wonderful in his performance as he did a brilliant job in the very beginning of his career. He was in full control of the game for his team as he dipped in to score seven points and outshined with six assists.
He proudly grabbed four rebounds and made three steals only in 41 minutes.
The Timberwolves centre Nikola Pekovic dished out 12 points, pulled down 11 rebounds, seven of which were offensive and succeeded in gaining the first double-double of his career.
The Missing Point Guards
Even though Aaron Brooks was missing with a sprained left ankle, the Rockets fired the game without the point guard aboard. Kyle Lowry, another point guard, could not make it because he is dealing with back spasms these days. Lowry
will return the next week, whereas Brooks will not be there until two weeks at least. Luke Ridnour, point guard of the Timberwolves, also acquired a hamstring injury in the 2nd quarter of the game and didn’t return after that. It seems like all
the point guards are under a bad spell.
The Rockets gave only seven turnovers tonight and that was a season low rate of turnovers.
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