What. A. Night.
After many encouraging moments but two ultimately disappointing results in the
first two games of their playoff series against the Rockets, the Wolves
delivered perhaps their most impressive performance of the season in a 121-105
win over Houston at Target Center.
When the final buzzer sounded, the Wolves exchanged high-fives at center court
and went home with their first playoff victory in 14 years. They’re winners
tonight.
Here’s how it went down.
Wiggins was phenomenal in the opening minutes, scoring five quick points and
hitting Jeff Teague with a beautiful pass for an open three. He finished the
opening quarter with 10 points, including a perfect two of two from beyond the
arc.
Jimmy Butler shook off underwhelming performances in Games 1 and 2 and came out
shooting. He lit it up, scoring 11 in the opening quarter and leading all
scorers after one. However, the Wolves did not contain Houston’s offense as well
as they did in the opening quarters of their previous games. The Rockets led by
one, 28-27, at the end of the first.
After a quiet start, Karl-Anthony Towns played aggressively in the second
quarter, including a sequence where he threw one down over Clint Capela (and
gave him quite a look, too), then stuffed Eric Gordon on the next possession
before going right at Capela again and getting fouled. It was an encouraging
sight–even though his scoring was held in check, he really impacted the game on
both ends.
Stare ’em down KAT! pic.twitter.com/BSaoVYqoMt
Jamal Crawford and Derrick Rose also showed some nice chemistry in the second.
Crawford had a few beautiful dishes to his fellow veteran guard, and the two
complemented each other nicely with Crawford hitting from the midrange and Rose
driving to the basket.
A Rose from concrete pic.twitter.com/fYh7u5qVIj
The Wolves led by as many as 11 in the quarter, but as Minnesota fans know, no
lead is safe against the Rockets. A few threes later, and Houston was right back
in it. The Wolves led 52-51 headed into halftime.
The third quarter in this game was probably the most energetic and exciting 12
minutes of the series so far. Teague put the game on a string for the Wolves,
Towns was energized and aggressive, and Wiggins displayed remarkable poise and
confidence for a player in the midst of his first postseason. Target Center was
the loudest it’s been in years, and the Wolves rode that energy to an 87-75 lead
going into the final period.
The fourth was more of the same. The Wolves played with pride, hustle and heart,
and got contributions from players up and down the roster. The Wolves said they
wanted to run more this game, and run they did–ran the Rockets right out of the
building. Wiggins, Butler and Teague share the game ball tonight, but this whole
squad is a dangerous team when they’re locked in. Let’s do it again on Monday.
We’ll have plenty more content on this huge victory coming your way, so keep
your eyes out, but enjoy this moment too. Wolves fans deserve a celebration.
Media Content:
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-game-3
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-game-3
