Minnesota Timberwolves: 3 takeaways from Game 5 vs. Rockets
3. Poor second half
The Wolves looked really good in the first half and had the lead for a large chunk of time. Going into half they led Houston 59-55. Minnesota led by 10 points at one point, but really stumbled going into halftime.
In fact, the Timberwolves shot 67 percent in the first half and surprisingly, a lot of shots they missed were inside the painted area. Seeing a shooting percentage that high is just a testament to how hard they were willing to battle.
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Much like Game 4, the Rockets were not going to let the Wolves have their way in the second half. They didn’t go off for 50 third quarter points this time, but they still outplayed Minnesota. The Wolves scored 45 points in the second half and a small chunk of those points came in the third.
The Wolves finished with 30 points in the fourth but only had about 15 points with close to four minutes left in the fourth quarter. We already knew the winner of the game at that point and that’s where the defense and effort level clearly fell off.
Houston scored a total of 67 second half points. In the third, Houston had 30 points, plus another 37 in the fourth. Again, the reason Houston started cooking was because of none other than James Harden. It’s so hard to stop him because he’s proven time and time again that he can make shots with perfect defense on him.
The Wolves’ inability to play the full 48 minutes proved to be a huge reason they will be packing their bags and heading into the offseason.