Taipei, March 16 (CNA) The Houston Rockets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 108-100 Saturday on home turf, ending the latter's three-game winning streak against the Rockets at the Toyota Center.

James Harden scored 37 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, and Jeremy Lin had 24, eight assists, four steals, to give the Rockets a much-needed second-half comeback.

The Rockets rallied from a double-digit deficit in the second half after Harden sank two three-pointers, and Lin added 12 points in the third quarter, to cut the deficit to single digits.

In the fourth quarter, Harden found Lin in the final five minutes to give the team a three point lead, and the Rockets never looked back.

Lin's penetration, lack of turnovers and stout defense against the Wolves guard Ricky Rubio also played a pivotal role in the Rockets' turnaround.

Harden said after the game of the lackluster first half: "I kind of saw where we were all sluggish, especially in that first half. ... You just have to have that confidence to go out there and make plays and score the basketball, drop a couple passes off and work from there."

Speaking of the team's inconsistency, Rockets coach Kevin McHale said: "They normally just frustrate me. Tonight, they made me mad."

"They do stuff that makes me just shake my head a lot, then they do stuff like that second half, and all is right in Rockets land," he said.

The win helped the Rockets, seventh in the Western Conference, improved to 2.5 games ahead of the ninth-place Utah Jazz.

(By Li Chin-wei and Ann Chen)
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