After ending their 13-year playoff drought, the Minnesota Timberwolves are now staring elimination in the face after going down 2-0 to the Houston Rockets in their first-round playoff series.

The T-Wolves took the opening game down to the final seconds and suffered a narrow defeat but it was a different story in game two as they proved to be no match for the top seed in the Western Conference.

Houston claimed a huge 102-82 win to protect their home-court and this was despite MVP favourite James Harden having a horrible offensive night, shooting just 2-of-18 from the field.

Minnesota failed to take advantage of Harden's bad night as their own superstar Karl-Anthony Towns produced another poor display for the second game on the bounce.

After being held to just eight points in game one, Towns posted just five points in last night's encounter at the Toyota Center as he was just 2-of-9 from the field.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 22-year-old is having a historically bad start to the playoffs for a player of his ability.

His 13 points after two playoff games is tied for the third fewest in NBA history for a player who averaged at least 20 points per game that season (via ESPN).

The center averaged 21.3 points in the regular season but has struggled to assert himself in his first appearances in the playoffs.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau implored him to be "more active" after his disappointing showing in game one and he once called for his star player to play with more energy after the game last night.

"They're doing a good job on him," said Thibodeau, per ESPN's Tim MacMahon. "When you're doing the things they're doing, which is double-teaming him, he has to play with energy.

"He's got to run the floor. He's got to get it deep. He did that a couple of times, and it was good. You've got to beat them down the floor.

"You've got to be moving around, offensive rebound, kickout, repost. That's an energy game, and that's what we've got to do."

The Rockets defence is focused on getting the ball out of the big man's hands and often send double-teams his way as they've identified him as their biggest threat.

Even though he's shot 5-of-18 in the series, KAT is not prepared to let frustration creep in and wants to maintain a positive attitude heading into game three.

"You can't be frustrated," said Towns. "No time to be frustrated. Too much positive energy has to go the right way. There ain't no time for negativity.

"There ain't no time for frustration. There ain't no time to hang your head down. We've got to move on and try to win the next game."

That next game will take place in Minneapolis on Saturday night and it's a must-win game for the Timberwolves where they'll desperately need their All-Star to break out of his slump to have any chance of claiming a victory and keeping this series alive.

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