Wolves play it closer but get no prize

HOUSTON — Humiliated there in January, the Timberwolves departed Toyota Center and Houston on a Wednesday night in late March with both their dignity preserved and a 97-86 loss to the formerly streaking Houston Rockets in pocket.

The first time around, the Wolves allowed 65 first-half points and trailed by 33 points before intermission. This time they trailed 46-42 at halftime before ultimately surrendering in the fourth quarter to the Rockets and Tracy McGrady. McGrady had been considered questionable to play because of a sore shoulder but delivered a 23-point, 11-rebound, nine-assist performance that steadied his team down the stretch.

Must have been the other shoulder.

"It really looked sore," Wolves coach Randy Wittman said. "Twenty-five shots. I wish it was a little more sore."

McGrady injured his left shoulder -- it was his non-shooting shoulder -- in Monday's victory over Sacramento and received a shot before the game that left his shoulder feeling "fine" by the second half. He scored 10 of those 23 points in the fourth quarter when he returned to the game to repel the Wolves after they hacked a 10-point, third-quarter deficit down to two points twice early in the fourth quarter.

McGrady and former Gopher Bobby Jackson supplied the telling counterpunches after the Wolves pulled within 72-70 and 74-72. The Rockets answered a 10-2 Wolves run that got them close with an immediate 10-2 burst of their own.

"As soon as they subbed Tracy back in, you knew what time it was," Wolves forward Kirk Snyder said.

Snyder returned to Toyota Center on Wednesday for the first time since the Rockets traded him way north last month. NBA Commissioner David Stern and the original President George Bush attended the game for a halftime tribute to 17-year NBA veteran Dikembe Mutombo for his worldwide humanitarian work and watched Rockets coach Rick Adelman collect his 801st career victory on the same floor where Kevin Garnett and Boston last week ended the Rockets' 22-game winning streak, the second-longest such streak in NBA history.

Wolves star Al Jefferson provided his 50th double-double of the season -- 21 points, 10 rebounds -- and tied a career high with five blocked shots, which now gives him 18 blocks in his past five games.

None of it was enough to withstand the Rockets, who trampled their way to the backboards for a 58-38 rebounding advantage that included 20 on the offensive glass. Luis Scola, the 27-year-old Argentine,had 18 points and 18 rebounds.

"Scola, he never backs down from anything," Snyder said.

Jefferson had four of his blocks by halftime on a night when his jump shot was way off. "Maybe that's why I go shooting all those airballs," he said rolling his eyes when asked about his recent defensive improvement. ... Stern said he and the league will further discuss one general manager's proposal to address the disparity between teams that will reach the playoffs in the Eastern Conference and the ones who won't in the West. The idea calls for eight teams from each conference to still make the playoffs, but they would be seeded 1 through 16, which could mean a potential first-round matchup of, say, Boston and Portland. Stern said the idea will be considered despite the travel complications because teams now travel in their own planes.