The Minnesota Timberwolves dominated the Houston Rockets in Game 3 of their opening-round playoff series.It’s very rare that an eighth-seed takes down a top-seeded team in such a way.Therefore, although they held a 2-1 lead heading into Game 4, all eyes were on how Houston would respond.At halftime, they held a 60-59 lead. But, whatever coach Mike D’Antoni told them in the locker room clearly fired them up.In the third quarter, the Rockets outscored the Timberwolves 50-20. You read that correctly. Houston scored 50 points in the third quarter.That hasn’t happened often. In fact, it was just one point shy of the NBA playoff record. Per ESPN, the Los Angeles Lakers scored 51 points in the fourth quarter of a playoff game back in 1962."Everything just clicked," Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni said after the game, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon.James Harden scored 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting in that quarter alone. That set a Rockets franchise record.

He finished the game with 36 points on 12-of-26 shooting. But, he did most of his work in the third.

"For myself and Chris, we had the mentality to be aggressive, make or miss shots," said Harden. "That's what we do. We shoot the basketball. Eventually, they'll start falling. That's what happened."

The Timberwolves also became the first team in over 30 years to be outscored by 30 points in a single quarter of a playoff game.

Amazingly, Harden outscored Minnesota by himself in the third.

In that quarter, they went 14-of-23 shooting overall, including 9-of-13 from three-point range. They also attacked the rim and drew fouls at will, knocking down all 13 of their free throw attempts.

"We just got hot," noted Chris Paul, who had 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting in the third and 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting overall. "Guys started making shots. We talked going into the game about being aggressive, and I think we all just tried to do that.”

Harden and Paul dominated the third and combined for 37 points, their best output since they became teammates.

"Obviously everybody will look at the 50 points that we scored in the quarter, but it was our defense," Paul said. "We finally started getting them to take tough shots, we were getting rebounds and we're tough in transition. You've got James coming downhill, myself and the way we've got the court spaced with shooters is big. That really turned it up for us.”

With Game 5 approaching, the Timberwolves will have to figure out how to limit Harden and Paul, if it’s possible. Although they were in the game in the first half, Minnesota got annihilated right out of the gates after halftime. Now, they’ll have their backs against the wall for the remainder of the series.

On the other end, this second-half performance couldn’t have come at a better time for the Rockets, who were in need of a boost after performing below their standards for a short period of time.

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