On February 5, Beijing time, the 2023-24 NBA regular season was in full swing, and a Western focus battle began, and the Houston Rockets challenged the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Rockets beat the Raptors last time out, and the team's young players played well, with Whitmore and Amen Thompson both setting career single-game scoring highs. The team is currently 23-25 and in 11th place in the West. The Timberwolves lost to the Magic by 2 points in their last game, and their record came to 34-15, and the No. 1 spot in the West was also ceded to the Thunder.
In the first quarter, the Timberwolves had limited number of outside shots, only 3-of-6, and the scoring mainly relied on the inside. In the first quarter, no one from the Timberwolves scored a double-double, relying on multi-point flowering, a total of 8 people on the team scored, and the whole team scored 31 points in a single quarter; The Rockets made 3 of 8 3-pointers, and all their interior shots were under the basket, but they encountered the strong defense of the Timberwolves' twin towers, only 4 shots, and scored 23 points in a single quarter; At the end of the first quarter, the Timberwolves led by 8 points;
In the second quarter, the Timberwolves felt a cliff-like decline, but the Rockets did not take the opportunity to complete the overtake. In this quarter, the Timberwolves felt cold on the outside, only 2 of 8 3-pointers, and a total of 4 shots on the inside, scoring an ultra-low score of 17 points in a single quarter! Huazi was 0 of 3 in this quarter, and only relied on free throws to score 2 points, which is obviously not his normal state; But the Rockets weren't much better, shooting 3-of-9 from 3-pointers, shooting a total of 4 from the inside, and scoring 21 points in a single quarter. At halftime, the two teams were tied at 43-48, and the Timberwolves led by five points into the second half;
Yibian fought again, and the rocket was completely powered off in this section, and the whole team only scored 13 points! The Timberwolves took the opportunity to widen the gap; In this section, the Rockets basically gave up the outside line, and made a total of 3 shots and 1 hit, and the inside shot was basically under the basket, but they hit the iron crazily; The Timberwolves were 4 of 6 from the outside, with a high efficiency inside, with a shooting rate of more than 6 percent, scoring 27 points in a single quarter, and the total score came to 57-75, and the Timberwolves opened an 18-point gap; Huazi completely broke out in this quarter, he scored 22 points on 9 of 11, including 4 of 5 3-pointers, and other players scored a total of 5 points, and the third quarter was his showtime! In this section, Huazi's fairy ball skills were shocking, showing the demeanor of a super scorer.
At the beginning of the last quarter, Li Kaier took the lead in breaking through the throwing and hitting the board, Whitmore responded with 3 points, Li Kaier assisted Gobert to make a layup, Whitmore scored 3 points and hit again, Reed broke through the basket and scored 2+1 to continue the firepower, Gobert ran and dunked, Jalen Green retreated and hit a jumper, Shen Jing dunked and continued to score 2 points, and the Timberwolves shouted to stop; After the timeout, the Timberwolves continued to open up the difference, Gobert scored a dunk in the air, and Towns scored another 4 points in a row, and the Timberwolves led by 25 points! The Rockets began to withdraw their main forces and surrender, and the final score was fixed at 111-90.
Statistics: In this game, Shen Jing scored 15 points, 10 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 1 block in 7 of 14, VanVleet 11 points, 3 rebounds and 1 assist, Jalen Green 8 points, 2 rebounds and 7 assists, Dillon 7 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, Smith 3 points and 2 boards, Amen Thompson 8 points, 7 rebounds and 2 assists, Whitmore 14 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist;
On the Timberwolves side, Huazi had 32 points, 6 rebounds and 1 assist, Towns had 14 points and 10 boards, Gobert had 17 points, 13 rebounds and 1 assist, Reed had 13 points and 6 boards, Conley had 8 points, 3 rebounds and 9 assists, and Lee Kyle scored 6 points, 2 rebounds and 4 assists on 3-of-5 shooting. A new season of sports