Capela, Harden, and defense eliminates Timberwolves in 5 games

Posted: April 25, 2018 -- 11:55 pm CDT.

HOUSTON, TX (Toyota Center) -- Clint Capela's 26 points and 15 rebounds helped the Houston Rockets defeat the Minnesota Timberwolves 122-104 Wednesday night. With the win, the Rockets win the first round series 4 games to 1 and advance to the Western Conference semifinals.

The Timberwolves led 26-25 after the first quarter and 59-55 at halftime. Minnesota shot 54.8% (23 for 42) in the first half including 63.6% (7 for 11) on three-point shots.

"The first half I thought we just didn’t get into people," said Rockets Head Coach Mike D'Antoni after the game. "They were shooting the ball extremely well. But mostly that was because we gave them space, gave them confidence, they didn’t feel us."

Meanwhile, Houston shot 42.6% (20 for 47) from the floor in the opening half and made only 8 of 23 (34.8%) three-point shots.

Then, once again, the third quarter would be the difference maker for both teams.

"First of all, Minnesota never quit, they played well," D'Antoni said. "They’re a good team; they’ve got a lot of talent and they’re good. They made us work for everything, so we came up with about three good quarters during the series and knocked them out. Kudos to them."

Houston outscored Minnesota 30-15 in the third. The Rockets' defense tightened the screws and limited the Timberwolves to 5 made 15 field goals out of 15 shots (33.3%). The T-wolves attempted 3 three-point shots in the third quarter. Missed all three.

James Harden scored 15 points in the third quarter. Harden made 5 of his 9 shots in the quarter. In the first half, Harden made only 2 of 9 shots.

Houston led 85-74 after three quarters.

The lead ballooned to 20 in the fourth quarter; and, the Rockets cruised into the second round of the 2018 NBA Playoffs.

"Everybody got it going in the second half," Eric Gordon noted. "The first half we just weren’t scoring the ball, moving the ball very well. Our defense was there, but we just got to get it going offensively. But, it became very dominant in the second half; so, that overcame a lot."

Clint Capela scored 11 of his game-high (and playoff career-high) 26 points in the fourth period. Capela finished the game with 26 points and 15 rebounds. Capela shot 12 for 14 from the floor.

Dating back to the regular season, Houston is 14-0 when he scores 20 or more points in a game.  Capela finished the series averaging 15.8 points, 14.2 rebounds and 2.00 blocks.

"He (Capela) played 33 minutes, there was no dip at all," D'Antoni raved about Capela's performance. "He was incredible tonight, I thought. You don’t get much better than that."

Harden echoed D'Antoni's praise of Capela.

"I mean he’s been doing great all series, all season long," said Harden. "His development, the way he listens, the way he competes, is phenomenal. And he just continues to get better, continues to listen, and work his butt off. In this series, this season it’s been showing. Playing against guys that we call All-Stars, or whatever you want to call them. But, he doesn’t really care about the name, he just goes out there and just does his job every single night. That’s why we’re in the position we are."

"It means a lot, especially in this kind of game, bringing the energy from the tip (off) to the end," Capela commented. "This is really what I try to do. (In) the third quarter, fourth quarter I always have that pace, always playing, sprint and get back to a pick-and-roll. Because I feel like I have an impact on the team, and I have an impact on offense whenever I sprint, or whenever I try to put a pace on our offense. So, by doing that I feel like that really helps my team to like have wide open shots for our shooters, or in case maybe James (Harden) or Chris (Paul) or me at the basket. So, really try to stay focused on keeping that energy up."

P.J. Tucker said of Capela's monster performance: "Unbelievable, that’s what we need Clint (Capela) to do every night. Clint’s ability to run the floor is unbelievable. He’s one of the best running big men in the league and the way he can get from baseline to baseline, to get back to the 3-point line, to get Chris (Paul) and James (Harden) open, and still to get behind bigs and finish, protect the rim and block shots, rebounding, he does it all."

Tucker scored a playoff career-high 15 points tonight after scoring a total of 16 points the first four games of the series.  He shot 5-of-7 from 3-point range after shooting 4-of-16 from behind-the-arc the first four games.  During the regular season, Houston was 15-2 when Tucker scored 10 or more points and 29-2 when he hit at least two 3-pointers.

Eric Gordon added a series-high 19 points tonight.  He averaged 17.3 points per game over the final three games after scoring a total of 16 points the first two games of the series.

After a sluggish 5 for 18 start from three, the Rockets made 10 of their final 26 three-point attempts. The Rockets hit a series-high 18 3-pointers on 40.9% shooting.  Houston has hit at least 15 three-point shots in each of the past four games, tying for the longest streak in NBA playoff history (Cleveland from May 2 - May 8, 2016).  The Rockets hit 15 or more threes in three of their 11 playoff games in 2017.  Houston was 42-4 when making 15 or more threes in a game in 2017-18.

James Harden finished the game with 24 points and 12 assists for his first double-double of the series and the 14th of his playoff career (all as a Rocket).  Harden also had 2 steals and 2 blocks tonight, marking his second game with at 2 steals and 2 blocks this series.  He finished the series with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.64 while recording nearly as many steals (12) as turnovers (14).  Harden also averaged 4.0 3-pointers made on 38.5% shooting this series.

Chris Paul had 9 assists without a turnover tonight.  After recording 6 turnovers with 4 assists in Game 1, he had 29 assists with 3 turnovers over the final four games of the series.  Paul finished the series with more steals (10) than turnovers (9) while averaging 19.0 points on 48.7% shooting.

"My hat's off to the Rockets," Tom Thibodeau, Timberwolves Head Coach said after the game. "I want to congratulate them."

The Rockets will face the winner of the Oklahoma City Thunder - Utah Jazz series in the next round. If Utah wins game 6, the Rockets will face the Jazz Sunday, April 29, in Game 1, at 2:30 p.m. Central Time. If the OKC - Jazz series goes 7 games, the Rockets will not play Game 1 until Tuesday, May 1, at 8:30 p.m. CDT.

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