Karl-Anthony Towns and the Timberwolves laid another egg in 102-82 loss to the Rockets in Game 2 of their best-of-seven playoff series.
Minnesota led 22-13 with 1:41 left in the first quarter and then got bum rushed even though James Harden made just 2-of-18 shots in the game.
Towns, who was criticized after scoring just 8 points on nine shots in Game 1, was worse the second time around, scoring just 5 points and again taking only nine shots.
“I wouldn’t even come home if I had 5 points,” Shaquille O’Neal said on TNT after the game. “I’d sleep outside.”
"He's got a long way to go offensively… he's got to get into the gym and work on his game this summer." – Chuck on KAT pic.twitter.com/rgRlF8WIeL
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) April 19, 2018
“Ain’t no time for negativity, there ain’t no time for frustration, there ain’t no time to hang your head down,” said Towns. “We need to move on.”
Jimmy Butler wasn’t much better, scoring 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting, clearly ailed by some sort of injury to his right wrist, or perhaps his surgically repaired knee is bothering him.
Houston hit 16-of-52 threes – an NBA record number of attempts in the playoffs – while Wolves only hit 5-of-18 from deep.
“I feel like we just let up,” said Andrew Wiggins, who led Minnesota’s starters with 13 points.
Chris Paul finished with 27 points and was pretty much toying with the Wolves in the second half.
Houston leads the series 2-0 with Game 3 in Minnesota on Saturday.
