Chris Johnson arrived in Minnesota on Friday night just hoping to provide a little bit of energy and make a solid impression in his latest effort to catch on with an NBA team.
About 24 hours later, he was hearing chants of ”M-V-P! M-V-P!” and teaming with another new face to carry the Timberwolves to a much-needed victory.
Johnson and Mickael Gelabale signed 10-day contracts on Saturday morning, then scored the first 23 points of the fourth quarter to lift the Timberwolves to a 92-79 victory over the slumping Houston Rockets on Saturday night.
Johnson, signed from Santa Cruz of the NBA Development League, scored 13 of his 15 points in the fourth. Gelabale, a forward who arrived from France on Thursday, had 10 of his 11 points in the final 12 minutes to help the injury-plagued Wolves snap a five-game skid…
James Harden scored 18 points on 5-of-18 shooting for the Rockets, who have lost seven straight games. Houston shot 32 percent and committed 20 turnovers in another lethargic effort that had coach Kevin McHale scrambling to find anybody who could give them some energy.
The Rockets starters shot 25.5 percent for the game and Harden is shooting 28 percent (23 for 80) over the last three games…
Andrei Kirilenko had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Luke Ridnour scored 16 points for the Timberwolves, who had lost each of their previous five by double digits and were playing with just nine healthy bodies…
The Wolves were missing C Nikola Pekovic (bruised right quad), F Dante Cunningham (illness), G Alexey Shved (ankle), F Kevin Love (hand), F Chase Budinger (knee), G Brandon Roy (knee), F Josh Howard (knee) and G Malcolm Lee (hip).
— Reported by Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press
