Houston Loses at Home for the First Time This Season

The Minnesota Timberwolves traveled to Houston to defeat the Rockets 117 to 107.

The Houston Rockets lost their first home game and only their second game of the NBA regular season, dropping to a 7-2 record. On the other hand, the Timberwolves moved to 6-3.

This game was tightly contested throughout its entirety. The Rockets and Timberwolves headed into the halftime break locked in a 57–57 deadlock, capping off a chaotic, fast-paced opening two quarters.

Kevin Durant came out firing early to ignite Houston’s offense, which felt personal and directed at the recent criticism he has been receiving regarding his low shot volume. Durant racked up 10 points in the first quarter, but his early rhythm hit an immediate wall due to personal foul trouble.

Durant committed his third personal foul in the first quarter, which opened the floor for Reed Sheppard, who completely took over the first half. Sheppard turned defense directly into quick offense, racking up 14 first-half points.

He set the defensive tone by snagging three steals, turning active hands in the passing lanes into immediate transition opportunities, and added three 3-pointers to keep Toyota Center buzzing.

While perimeter shots dropped smoothly, easy charity-stripe points slipped away. Rudy Gobert epitomized those charity-stripe struggles and continues to miss his attempts from the free-throw line. Gobert only connected on 2 out of his 6 free attempts, which he will surely need to improve moving forward.

The Timberwolves shot a terrible 53% from the free-throw line (10-of-19), but still managed to come out with the victory with their effective three-point shooting.

The Timberwolves kept the game close by leaning heavily into their three-point shooting. Minnesota found rhythm from deep, putting up high-volume dynamic shooting led by Lamelo Ball and Bones Hyland, who both shot 4-of-7 from deep.

While Minnesota made 43% of their threes, Houston reverted to last season’s shooting and finished the game connecting on only 35% of their shots from deep.

Both teams wrestled with possession control in a turnover-galore half, trading frantic transition sequences and reckless passes, as reflected in a high 39 turnovers.

The Rockets committed 22 turnovers in this game, which converted to 33 points off of turnovers, and was ultimately the main cause of the loss.

Houston continued to be a well-rounded team, and yet again had six players with double-digit points.

Houston will look to bounce back after losing their first home game of the season, and learn from their mistakes over the next two days, which they have off, before traveling to Phoenix to play the Suns on Saturday, November 7.