HOUSTON (AP) — Anthony Edwards had 22 points, with a key 3-pointer late, Terrence Shannon Jr. scored 23 points off the bench and the Minnesota Timberwolves snapped the Houston Rockets' eight-game winning streak with a 136-132 victory Friday night.
Amen Thompson had a career-high 41 points and Kevin Durant added 33 for the Rockets, who have clinched a playoff berth but are still playing for postseason seeding. The Timberwolves are also heading for the playoffs
with the sixth seed in the Western Conference.
Minnesota led by 10 with about four minutes left before Houston used an 8-2 run, with four points from Alperen Sengun, to cut the lead to 132-128 with about a minute to go.
But Edwards hit a 3-pointer a few seconds later to push the lead to 135-128 and send the home fans streaming toward the exits.
The Rockets led by five before Minnesota used a 13-4 run, with the first eight points from Donte DiVincenzo, to take a 116-112 lead with about eight minutes to go.
Reed Sheppard made a basket for Houston, but Minnesota scored the next seven points, capped by a 3 from DiVincenzo, to push the lead to 123-114 midway through the quarter.
The 37-year-old Durant has scored 2,026 points this season, making him the oldest player to reach 2,000 in a season. He passed Karl Malone, who did it in the 1999-00 season when he was 36. It’s Durant's eighth season with at least 2,000 points and the first since 2023-24.
The Timberwolves played without Julius Randle, who missed a second straight game with right hand soreness. They used a balanced scoring attack to get the win with seven players scoring at least 15 points.
Timberwolves: Host New Orleans on Sunday night.
Rockets: Host Memphis on Sunday night.
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