Brooks Leads Rockets Over Timberwolves 112-101

HOUSTON -- Aaron Brooks had played just 15 minutes in his last six games and acknowledged he was a little shaky when he entered Houston’s game against Minnesota late in the first quarter.

It didn’t take him long to settle down.

Brooks scored a season-high 26 points to pick up the slack for the injured James Harden, and the Rockets beat the Timberwolves 112-101 on Saturday night.

Brooks, who entered the game averaging 2.8 points, had a big second quarter, making four 3-pointers and scoring 16 points. He finished with six 3-pointers. It was his most points since scoring 28 for the Rockets against Utah in April of 2010.

The Rockets led throughout, and Omri Casspi, Jeremy Lin and Brooks made consecutive 3-pointers in a 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter and extend the lead to 91-74.

Harden, who leads the Rockets with 24.2 points per game, sat out with a sore left foot. Lin started in his place and scored 19, but it was Brooks who shined.

Kevin Love had 27 points and 15 rebounds, and Corey Brewer scored 22 for the Timberwolves.

Brooks, who’s in his second stint with the Rockets, is a crowd favorite and the home fans cheered wildly every time he entered the game. Brooks also had five assists, four rebounds and a steal.

Patrick Beverley had 17 points and made a career-high five 3-pointers, and Terrence Jones added 18 points and had 10 rebounds for Houston. Howard had 11 points and led the team with 13 rebounds.

The Rockets led 82-74 entering the fourth quarter.

The Timberwolves used a 15-4 spurt in the third quarter, fueled by three 3-pointers, to cut Houston’s lead to 65-57. Love made a 3-pointer before a turnover by Chandler Parsons that led to a dunk by Brewer capped the run. An exasperated Rockets' coach Kevin McHale put his hands on his head as he watched Brewer’s dunk and quickly called a timeout.

McHale’s short pep talk must have gotten Houston’s attention. The Rockets responded with a 10-5 run to extend their lead to 75-62 with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter.

The Rockets led by eight points late in the second quarter before using a 9-2 run thanks to three straight 3-pointers, including two by Brooks, to stretch the lead to 52-37.

Minnesota scored five quick points on a dunk by Kevin Martin and a 3-pointer from Brewer to close the gap. But Lin sunk a 3-pointer at the buzzer to extend Houston’s lead to 55-42 at halftime.

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