HOUSTON _ In Sunday's Game 1 of a first-round playoff series, the 3-point loving Houston Rockets made a mere two more 3s than the Timberwolves and still walked away 3-point winners after a last-seconds scare.
In Wednesday's game, Rockets superstar James Harden made just two of his 18 shots from the field three nights after he scored 44 points and still his team won, this time routing the Wolves 102-82 at Toyota Center.
The series heads to the Target Center for Saturday's Game 3 with the eighth-seeded Wolves trailing top-seeded Houston 2-0.
This time, the Rockets' Harden-Chris Paul switched roles from Sunday when Paul came back from a six-turnover game then and delivered an acrobatic 27-point, eight-assist performance while former Timberwolves forward Gerald Green scored 21 points off the bench.
Paul's play helped turn the game in the first half after they trailed by nine points early, but then went on a 28-5 run fueled as well by Green's 3-point shooting and the Rockets' defense that left the Wolves reeling.
Harden, meanwhile, struggled to make a shot from the field after he had scored those 44 points in Game 1.
Before Wednesday's game, Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni promised Paul would bounce back.
"That's the least of our worries," D'Antoni said. "When I go home, I don't worry about Chris Paul being ready."
Harden's shooting night didn't matter, not after the Rockets took care of business in Wednesday's first half and led by as many as 25 points after halftime.
Wolves All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns took nine shots and scored eight points in Sunday's Game 1. Those were low numbers that both inspired TNT analyst and Hall of Famer Charles Barkley to call the Wolves "one of the dumbest teams I've ever seen" because they didn't exploit mismatches when the Rockets switched every screen defensively, leaving smaller players to defend Towns often.
Harden, D'Antoni and Eric Gordon all predicted the Wolves would get Towns more involved in Game 2.
"I think they're really going to feature them this next game," Gordon said Tuesday.
Towns took nine shots by midway through the second quarter, then didn't take another one the rest of the night. Most of those nine shots were outside of the paint and he missed the last seven after he had made his first two.
He finished with a mere five points after coach Tom Thibodeau pulled his starters in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach while Andrew Wiggins led the Wolves in shots (14) and points (13).
Included among Towns' first two made shots was a 3-pointer that helped the Wolves extend an early 9-2 lead to 22-13 with 2:14 left in the first quarter.
The Wolves still led 25-18 in the second quarter's opening moments before the Rockets reversed course and scored 28 of the next 33 points. They turned that nine-point deficit into a lead that grew to as much as 16 points before halftime.
They did so with Paul bouncing back from Sunday's six-turnover game _ just as D'Antoni said he would _ and Green making four of the Rockets' eight first-half 3-pointers.
Searching for wing player who could make 3s, the Wolves invited Green to a free-agent camp in Minneapolis last September, but he didn't find work until he signed with the Rockets right after Christmas.
"That was the last invitation I got to join their organization," Green said. "Well, I'm happy I'm here at home and playing for the best team in the NBA."
Acquired from Boston in the blockbuster Kevin Garnett trade in 2007, Green played 29 games for the Wolves before he was traded back home to Houston, which waived him not long thereafter. When asked about his Minnesota memories, he said, "Not any good ones."
His most memorable moment on the Timberwolves was the 2008 NBA slam-dunk when he enlisted teammate Rashad McCants to light a birthday cupcake on the rim that he blew out as he dunked the ball down.
"That was probably the only thing I had out there," said Green, who was 22 then and is 32 now. "It's not something I'm really proud about."
