Defense in basketball is like space in a good piece of jazz music or negative space as an element of design. You don't really notice it, you don't really notice it, you don't really notice it -- and then you really notice it.
There was a stretch in the fourth quarter of the Timberwolves' 90-84 victory over the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night at Target Center in which the two teams, over about five minutes, each made only one of nine shots. Under less critical circumstances, Minnesota's Dwane Casey and Houston's Jeff Van Gundy both might have been elated, given how much most NBA coaches love stopping the other guys.
In this case, only Casey was enjoying himself, because the score over that period ticked ever so grudgingly from 81-77 Wolves with 6 minutes, 37 seconds remaining to 85-80 Wolves with 1:54 to play.
It was during that stretch, too, folks began to appreciate what Minnesota was accomplishing.
Houston (12-6) arrived as the NBA's stingiest club, allowing 87.8 points per game with 7-5 center Yao Ming as its anchor. The Wolves (8-9) ranked third at 92.9.
Only one of those clubs improved its numbers Wednesday night.
"We're a pretty good defensive team, too. Period," Kevin Garnett said. "I know they're a good team. That doesn't discount what we do. We take a lot of pride. We view ourselves as hyenas vs. having one or two lions.
"We know our offense is not where it should be. Rhythm-wise, chemistry-wise. ... If we're going to win games, we've got to stop people."
Minnesota all but shut the Rockets down in those late, pivotal minutes. On consecutive possessions, Marko Jaric stripped Yao, then blocked and controlled a shot by Tracy McGrady. Garnett grabbed a three-point McGrady miss. Moments later, Garnett blocked Yao at the rim, then seemed to almost vault off his back to grab the Houston center's put-back miss.
Points were coming hard at the other end. But in fairly rapid succession, Yao traveled, Shane Battier missed from the arc, Garnett and Trenton Hassell bothered Yao into another blown layup, and McGrady missed from 20 feet.
Rafer Alston's three-pointer made it 87-84 with 50 seconds left, and Jaric clanged one 16 seconds later. But Mike James crowded Alston more this time, and his shot to tie bounced into Garnett's hands with 13 seconds left.
Garnett had 24 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks, while James chipped in 19 points. Ricky Davis shot 1-for-7 but had nine assists and seven rebounds.
Yao and McGrady combined in the fourth quarter for only three points on 1-for-12 shooting. All night, the Wolves relied on Mark Blount and helpers on the Rockets center, Hassell and Jaric on McGrady and Garnett on a string between them to double-team.
"They think I'm a robot around here," Garnett said of the double duty. "I'm about used to it by now. They think I have a cape and I can fly through the air sometimes."
Said Yao: "All night he is jumping around from the high post to the low post."
Some might see this as a gassed Houston club playing its second game in as many nights. The rested Wolves prefer to think of it as a game they won, rather than one the Rockets lost.
Steve Aschburner • saschburner@startribune.com
wolves/nba
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