Houston Rockets Team Report - March 30

(Basketball News) - Houston dropped a 94-88 decision to the Minnesota Timberwolves at Toyota Center Monday night.

Cuttino Mobley, Steve Francis and Maurice Taylor had 17 points apiece for Houston, which remains firmly in the seventh position in the conference standings. Jim Jackson had 16 points for the Rockets in the loss.

If the regular season were to end today, the Rockets and Timberwolves would tip off against each other in the opening round of the playoffs.

Kevin Garnett hit what turned out to be the winning shot on a 10-foot jumper over the outstretched hand of Yao Ming with 18 seconds left.

Yao had a chance to tie it, but his jumper from the top of the key hit off the rim and Latrell Sprewell came down with the rebound and was fouled. He hit both from the line with eight seconds remaining and Sam Cassell added another pair from the charity stripe with 1.7 seconds left to round out the scoring.

Yao tallied 16 points and seven boards for Houston, which got only five bench points to Minnesota’s 20.

The Rockets have their next two days off before taking on the Los Angeles Lakers at Staples Center Thursday night. Houston is just 16-19 on the road this season.