
In some ways, the Rockets' 119-100 victory over the Timberwolves and the 50-point third quarter that fueled it were an unpleasant inevitability.
Houston is the No. 1 seed for a reason and had one of the most efficient regular-season offenses this season for a reason. The Wolves had spent three-and-a-half games of their playoff series playing reasonable defense, but the Rockets had also been missing a lot of open shots they usually make for no good reason other than the law of averages.
Any team that has aspired for a while to achieve a 50-point quarter, as coach Mike D'Antoni said has been a stated goal of his Rockets, is capable of such things.
There is, too, the predictability of the rhythm of a seven-game series between a clear favorite and an underdog. The Wolves put a scare in the Rockets in Game 1 but lost. Houston routed the Wolves in Game 2. The series shifted back to Minnesota for Game 3, where the Rockets exhaled and the Wolves dug in. Fueled by the home crowd and inspired play, the Wolves grabbed a convincing win.
Suddenly Game 4 had the potential to make the series interesting, and the Rockets were motivated by what D'Antoni called a "fear factor."
Now if the Rockets win back in Houston on Wednesday, the series will have followed the exact pattern of the Wild's five-game exit.
It's an arrangement known in some circles as a "gentleman's sweep," whereby a superior team doesn't exactly let an opponent win a game but does step off the gas long enough to make it possible because there is not a genuine worry about losing the series. The better team then cruises to a 4-1 series win, closing things out at home in Game 5.
Minnesota had done enough in the first half of Game 4, though, to create genuine optimism throughout Target Center. Karl-Anthony Towns missed most of the first quarter with two quick fouls. Jeff Teague was banged up and ineffective. And yet there was the halftime score: Houston 50, Wolves 49.