MINNEAPOLIS — This time the Houston Rockets held on to their big lead.
One night after blowing a 17-point advantage in the final six minutes, Yao Ming towered over the Timberwolves with 17 points, 11 rebounds and six blocks in Houston’s 105-94 victory over Minnesota on Sunday.
Ron Artest scored 23 points and Aaron Brooks had 22 points and a career-high 10 assists for the Rockets, who had lost five of their last six games on the road.
Randy Foye scored 24 points and Craig Smith had 20 for the Timberwolves, who lost their sixth game in a row and fell to 1-8 since star center Al Jefferson went down for the season with a torn ACL.
Without their man in the middle, who averaged 35 points and 17.5 rebounds in two meetings against Houston earlier this season, the Wolves were dwarfed at every position.
Giving up more than eight inches and 60 pounds to the 7-foot-6, 310-pound Yao on the low block, Wolves rookie Kevin Love simply couldn’t measure up.
On offense, Yao pushed and shoved Love all over the paint until he got into position for easy hook shots and layups. On defense, Yao swatted away three shots by Love and challenged countless others, even delivering an inadvertant elbow that got the rookie’s eyes watering in the third period.
When Tracy McGrady elected to have microfracture knee surgery to end his season, Artest moved into his starting spot, giving the Rockets a 6-7, 260-pound shooting guard in a pass-rushing defensive end’s body.
Artest had 32 points against the Bulls on Saturday night, but Chicago outscored the Rockets 23-3 in the final 5:51 for a stunning 105-102 victory.
Not this time.
Luis Scola had 15 points and 11 rebounds and coach Rick Adelman left his starters in long after the game was decided to blow out a struggling team that has looked lost without its leader.
Without Jefferson, the Timberwolves have tried to up the pace on offense to get easy buckets. But it has come at the expense of the defense. Coach Kevin McHale has lamented the soaring shooting percentages from opposing offenses, the result of too many wide open jump shots and easy layups.
It was more of the same on Sunday evening, when the Rockets opened the game a perfect 7-for-7 and made 12 of their first 14 shots. Artest capped that start with a soft jumper for a 25-15 lead in the first quarter. Houston shot 53 percent for the game.
The deciding run came in the third period, when Houston outscored Minnesota 17-0 over a six-minute stretch and never looked back.
Notes: Wolves PG Sebastian Telfair sat out with a sore right
groin. He is listed as day-to-day. … It was Brooks’ second career double-double. Both have come against the Wolves. … Carl Landry had 12 points off the bench for Houston. … After a day of negotiating with free agent WR T.J. Houshmandzadeh, Vikings owner Zygi Wilf and vice president of player personnel Rick Spielman watched the game from courtside seats.
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