Wolves end long road trip with 116-111 loss at Houston

HOUSTON – Time to go home.

The Timberwolves concluded a four-game, nine-day trip with Friday's 116-111 loss to the Rockets at Toyota Center, flying away into the good night with two victories, two defeats and a souvenir to remember their journey from Oklahoma City and Phoenix to Memphis and Houston.

They went home last-second winners over the Thunder a week earlier and last-second losers to the Suns on Monday on a trip they could have finished 3-1 instead of 2-2.

They went home not with a kokopelli keychain from four days spent in the Arizona desert or a trinket from Graceland, but rather with an impromptu team photo posed in their locker room after Friday's game with Basketball Hall of Fame center and former Rockets great Hakeem Olajuwon.

"It's always good to see him," said Wolves big man Gorgui Dieng, who worked in the gym with Olajuwon for a week last summer when both traveled home to Africa for the first NBA game played there. "He's 'The Dream,' you know?"

Packed up and checked out of their hotel before the game and bound for the airport immediately after it, the Wolves trailed 17-7 and 24-11 in the game's opening minutes.

But they pushed the Rockets to the final minute, getting within five points with 7½ minutes left and then again in the game's final six seconds.

''We played hard. They just made some shots. This team can make some shots. I thought we competed and played well."

After getting outrebounded by lopsided margins during the trip's first three games, the Wolves fought the good fight on the backboards Friday, staying within a 42-35 deficit after the injury-ravaged Grizzlies ripped down 27 offensive boards and outrebounding them 51-33 just two nights earlier.

They just never could make a defensive stand when they needed one against a Rockets team that received 29 points and 14 assists from star James Harden and both a season high (18 points) and a career high (10 assists) from point guard Patrick Beverley.

The Wolves outlasted the Grizzlies but were outdone by the Rockets, Western Conference finalists a season ago who at 35-34 now are fighting for a playoff spot.

"It's hard to complain, I don't think we did a lot of things bad," Mitchell said. "I'm pleased with the effort for such a long trip. Any time you go on a four-game trip, win two and you were in every game and had a chance to win them all, that's all you can ask for."

"A player like that can turn it on and turn it off," said Wolves guard Zach LaVine, who defended Harden most of the night, "especially turn it on."

Afterward, Mitchell encountered Olajuwon — a former teammate at the start of Mitchell's playing career —in an arena hallway, telling him, "Remember when I was your rookie? I'm still your rookie."

Olajuwon then stopped by the Wolves' locker room.

"That's one of the best bigs to ever play," Wolves rookie Karl-Anthony Towns said after a 32-point, 11-rebound game. "To get the chance to talk and have a picture with, it's very cool. I can't wait, though, to just continue to grow and hopefully he can see me in my prime."