James Harden dropped in a 3-pointer and then another, the sort of flurry that had long been his norm, but had been so conspicuously missing. He had to mark the occasion.
After five consecutive misfiring nights and four increasingly maddening Rockets losses, he patted his head and signaled that it was time to roll at last.
Facing a team with the third-worst record in the NBA and playing without star Karl-Anthony Towns, the Rockets had seemed heading to another inexplicable defeat, trailing by 10 late in the third quarter. When they finally got on the sort of roll they could not find for a week, the Rockets built a 13-point lead and finished off the Timberwolves, 117-111, Tuesday at Toyota Center.