That's two for the road: Wolves win again, 112-108, and Love gets 38th consecutive double-double

Remember the last time the Wolves won consecutive road games?

Kevin Love doesn't, either.

Well, for the record, it was Love's rookie season when the Wolves won consecutively at Utah, the Clippers and Golden State back to back to back in April 2009.

That's when Kevin McHale was coach and only three guys on this season's team are still here: Love, Corey Brewer and Sebastian Telfair (well, Bassy left and returned).

Monday night it was a victory at New Orleans and Tuesday night it was Houston, where the Rockets clobbered the Wolves when these teams met there in early November.

With Beasley, Darko!, Ridnour and Martell all out injured or absent, Kurt Rambis started Wes and Pekovic and asked more of guys like Wayne Ellington, Lazar Hayward, Kosta Koufos and Anthony Tolliver.

How in heaven did they ever do it playing so shorthanded?

Play hard, play together.

"Most of the time if the bench plays good, you win," Telfair said. "If they don't, you lose."

The Wolves rebounded (a 51-31 advantage that included 10 from Tolliver), played some real defense and got some clutch shooting, particularly from Ellington and Love in the final minute.

Both hit big threes in the final minute of a fourth quarter when the Wolves didn't commit a single turnover.

That's right.

A team that has committed them down the stretches of tight games by the bushel didn't have a single one, and that includes Jonny Flynn, who had five Tuesday night but not one in the fourth.

Ellington's big three with 54 seconds were part of his career-high 18 points and gave the Wolves a 108-104 lead.

When the Rockets pulled within two, Love answered with another three with 35 seconds left for a five-point lead that stood up even when Flynn missed a contested layup and Love missed the first of two free throws in the final 18 seconds.

"We finally had a game where we executed down the stretch," said Love, who had 20 points and 14 rebounds. "I know Jonny missed the layup, that was a fluke. And I missed the free throw, that was a fluke. We got out of it. We just persevered."

By then, Love had reached his 38th consecutive double-double that surpassed Kevin Garnett's franchise-record of 37 (and also went by John Stockton, who had a 37-game streak of his own once) and moved within six of Moses Malone's 44-game streak in the 1982-83 season. Malone's 44 games is the longest double-double streak in the NBA in the last 30 years.

This night, Love knew exactly what he needed to reach that double-double because the scoreboard that shows individual stats lines up with the game score at Toyota Center.

"I'm not going to lie to you on this one: I was aware," he said. "That was bugging the heck out of me, to be honest to you. I knew if I had the time, I'd get it. It feels good to get, especially with a win."

That's all I've got from Houston here Tuesday night.

Here's the game story that has more from Love and others.

Rambis gave the players Wednesday off after playing four games in five nights.