Minnesota @ Houston preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 16, 2019 ) Houston 125, Minnesota 105

Russell Westbrook put on a show in front of his old home crowd on Thursday, but it wasn't enough to pull his new team to a win. Westbrook and the Houston Rockets will try to bounce back and win for the fourth time in five games when they return home and host the Minnesota Timberwolves on Saturday.

Westbrook spent the first 11 seasons of his career in Oklahoma City before being traded to the Rockets over the summer and was showered with cheers and "MVP" chants while going off for 34 points on 14-of-26 shooting, but Houston dropped a 113-92 decision to the Thunder. "Obviously, we got smacked, but it was a dope environment," Houston guard James Harden told reporters. "Oklahoma City, as usual, showed mad love to Russell and everything he's done for those 11 years he was here. Obviously, an unbelievable fan base, and it was just a beautiful thing to see." The Timberwolves are winners of five of their last eight games and held the Portland Trail Blazers to 36.5 percent from the floor in a 116-102 victory on Thursday. Minnesota allowed an average of 103.4 points in the last eight games and totaled 10 blocked shots in Thursday's triumph.

TIME: 5 p.m. ET. TV: FS North, AT&T SportsNet Southwest, NBA TV Canada

ABOUT THE TIMBERWOLVES (15-22): Minnesota small forward Andrew Wiggins is just rounding back into form after missing four straight games with an illness and scored a team-high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting, including 2-of-4 from beyond the arc, to go with eight assists in 26 minutes on Thursday. "I feel like I was in a good rhythm the whole game," Wiggins told reporters. "I feel like everybody was, and I feel like we played great defense. Our defense turned into easy offense where a lot of us got good looks." The Timberwolves are still missing All-Star center Karl-Anthony Towns (knee) and used a wide rotation on Thursday, with 11 players logging at least 13 minutes.

ABOUT THE ROCKETS (25-12): Houston's 92 points on Thursday marked a season low as all non-Westbrook players combined to shoot 31.7 percent from the floor. Harden, who enjoyed a run of seven consecutive games shooting 50 percent or better from the floor before hitting the road, was off on the two-game road trip, combining to go 14-of-51 overall and 6-of-29 from beyond the arc in a win at Atlanta and the loss at Oklahoma City. Center Clint Capela had a string of 13 straight games scoring in double figures come to an end with eight points on 3-of-8 shooting on Thursday and is reportedly dealing with a heel injury that will leave him questionable for Saturday.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Rockets SG Eric Gordon (knee) sat out Thursday on the second night of the back-to-back and is day-to-day.

2. Timberwolves C Gorgui Dieng recorded five double-doubles in the last 10 games.

3. Houston earned a 125-105 win at Minnesota on Nov. 16 behind 49 points from Harden.

PREDICTION: Rockets 119, Timberwolves 111