HOUSTON – As Timberwolves coach Chris Finch headed to his pregame media availability, a number of people dressed as storm troopers emerged from the other end of the hallway headed to the court at the Toyota Center.
"How many 'Star Wars' nights are we going to be a part of?" a bemused Finch said.
This was the third straight road game the Wolves were part of another road arena's "Star Wars Night," and maybe the force has been with them. The Wolves had little trouble dispatching Houston 141-123 for their fourth consecutive win overall, a win that got them back to .500 (20-20).
But the Wolves, who set a season high in points, haven't really needed any outside help in those four wins — they've taken advantage of undermanned opponents or roster that aren't as good as theirs. On Sunday Karl-Anthony Towns was the beneficiary of a rebuilding and struggling Rockets opponent.
Towns dominated as the Wolves got almost whatever they wanted on the offensive end. He finished with 40 points. D'Angelo Russell had another strong game shooting with 22 on 8 of 14 shooting with 10 assists while Jarred Vanderbilt had dunk after dunk in front of his hometown crowd with 21 points and 19 rebounds, both career highs.
The Wolves pushed their lead to the 20s by the second quarter and rarely let it slip under the rest of the night. Jaylen Nowell added 11 points off the bench. Christian Wood had 22 for Houston.
The Wolves are doing what they should be in this patch of the schedule that features teams below them in the standings. On Wednesday they squeaked out a game at home against Oklahoma City, but they followed Friday's blowout of the Thunder in Oklahoma City with another convincing win in Houston. Tuesday continues this run in the schedule with a matchup in New Orleans before concluding this four-game trip in Memphis.
The Rockets don't have the personnel to match up with Towns, try as they might with a promising young player in Wood. Towns dominated from the start from inside and out. He went 8 of 11 in the first half and let the Rockets know the Wolves weren't there to mess around.
The Wolves raced out to an 20-12 lead with Towns scoring 10 of those points.
D'Angelo Russell also picked up where he left off Friday when he went 11-for-12 by going seven of 11 in the first half and hitting his first two three-point attempts.
The Wolves built their lead to 15 in the first quarter before giving a few baskets back toward the end and entered the second ahead 36-26.
That late Rockets run to close the quarter was just a temporary blip as the Wolves' second unit pushed the lead to 17 in the early minutes of the second on a Josh Okogie put-back to cap a 10-3 run.
The Wolves kept their lead in double digits from there. When Towns checked back in, he immediately got a layup and the Wolves went on a 16-6 run that pushed the lead to 25 at the end of the first half.
They slipped to start the third quarter as Houston cut the lead to 18. Finch called a timeout and out of the timeout, Towns found Vanderbilt for a layup and three-point play. Then he hit a three of his own and followed that with a three-point play.
The Wolves were back up 23, The Rockets made another run in the fourth quarter to cut the Wolves' lead to 15. Towns checked back in the game and got a three-point play and the Wolves made sure Houston didn't make them sweat too much.
