Green scores career-high 42, Rockets end 13-game skid

HOUSTON (AP)— Jalen Green scored a career-high 42 points and the HoustonRockets held on for a 119-114 victory over the MinnesotaTimberwolves on Monday night to snap a 13-game losing streak.

Green, thesecond overall pick in the 2021 draft, had 21 points by halftimeand kept up his strong play in the second half to lead the Rocketsto their first victory since Dec. 26 at Chicago. They ended theirlongest skid of the season and also a 10-game home losing streak,winning at home for the first time since Dec. 13 againstPhoenix.

Green bouncedback after shooting just 3 of 13 with 10 points in a loss to theTimberwolves on Saturday night.

Coach StephenSilas could see the drive in Green to perform better from the startMonday night.

“He was readyfor tonight,” Silas said. “It was time for us to buckle down andhave a focused game for 48 minutes and he was the leader of thattonight.”

Green said hewas “a little bit in my head” after his bad game Saturday but wasdetermined to turn things around. He was thrilled that his big gamehelped Houston end its skid.

“It feelsgood,” he said. “My guys relied on me, coaches relied on me. Weneeded that. We were desperate for it. We came out andexecuted.”

AnthonyEdwards had 31 points and D’Angelo Russell tied a season high with30 for the Timberwolves, who had won two straight.

“You are whatyou repeatedly do,” Minnesota coach Chris Finch said. “We’verepeatedly struggled with these types of games so focus... has tobe part of the problem, but we just didn’t have enough guys playwell either.”

Rookie TariEason talked about the Houston’s mindset entering Monday’sgame.

“I just toldthe team before the game, just be desperate,” Eason said. “And Ithink that’s what we did tonight. Everybody played desperate.Everybody played their tails off.”

The Rocketswere clinging to a one-point lead before Green scored the next fivepoints, capped by a 3-pointer, to make it 105-99 with two minutesto go.

Edwards madethe second of two free throws before Green struck again, knockingdown a long 2-pointer to leave Houston up 107-100 with 90 secondsto go.

Kenyon MartinJr. then stole the ball from D’Angelo Russell and finished on theother end with a dunk to extend the lead to nine with less than aminute left.

Edwards madea 3 for Minnesota after that but Green hit a 3-pointer for Houstonseconds later to make it 112-103 with 41 seconds to go. Minnesotaclosed within four with 12 seconds remaining but Green answer witha free throw.

Green swisheda 3-pointer as time expired in the third quarter to leave Houstonup 90-81. The Timberwolves used an 8-0 run, with five points fromRussell, to cut the lead to 92-89 with about nine minutes left inthe fourth quarter.

Houston wenton a 7-0 run, with a 3 from Garrison Mathews, to take an 81-74 leadwith less than four minutes left in the third quarter.

Austin Riversmade a 3 for Minnesota second later, but the Rockets scored thenext six points to make it 87-77 with about two minutes left in thequarter.

TIP-INS

Timberwolves:Taurean Prince sat out with a sprained left ankle. … Rudy Goberthad 15 points and 16 rebounds in his return after missing threegames right groin soreness.

Rockets:Rookie Jabari Smith Jr. missed a second straight game with asprained right ankle. … Kevin Porter Jr. missed a sixth consecutivegame with a bruised left foot. ... Alperen Sengun had 21 points,seven rebounds and seven assists.

THEBASEMENT

Houston,which finished with the NBA’s worst record in each of the last twoseasons, is again the league’s worst team this season at 11-36.Silas hopes a game like this is proof that his team is improvingdespite its record.

“We’re a workin progress for sure,” he said. “We still made mistakes.. but weplayed through them tonight and that’s the important thing.”