MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Anthony Edwards scored a season-high 44 points, D’Angelo Russell added 23 and the Minnesota Timberwolves handed the Houston Rockets their 13th straight loss with a 113-104 victory Saturday night.
Edwards eclipsed 40 points for the first time this season on 17-of-29 shooting from the field, including seven 3-pointers and a trio of thunderous dunks. Minnesota has won eight of its last 11 games.
“We talked yesterday about how important this game was for us, how he needed to set the tone,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “He certainly did that. He was special today, both ends of the floor, really.”
Nathan Knight provided a jolt of the bench, scoring a season-high 19 points.
Houston’s Alperen Sengun scored 19 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, taking advantage of a Timberwolves team that was without Rudy Gobert (right groin soreness) for the third consecutive game. Sengun made his first seven field goals and was the catalyst for Houston outrebounding Minnesota 56-30.
Eric Gordon added 16 points and Tari Eason finished with 14 points and nine rebounds. Jalen Green, Houston’s leading scorer this season, was held to 10 points.
Edwards had eight of the Wolves’ 16 field goals in the first half and scored 19 points. The rest of the team had 31 points on 26% shooting. Then in the third quarter, he scored 16 as the Timberwolves orchestrated a 15-2 run to climb out of a 10-point hole.
“I just knew we had to do something, man,” Edwards said of his third quarter. “My shot was actually going in tonight so I was pretty happy.”
Minnesota was helped by the Rockets’ carelessness with the ball. Houston, the NBA leader in turnovers per game, committed 23 that led to 30 points for Minnesota.
“Turnovers were the story of the game,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said. “Twenty-three turnovers in a nine-point game kill you, not to mention 14 missed free throws.”
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Watch Anthony Edwards score 44, throw down monster dunk in win over Rockets originally appeared on NBCSports.com
