James Harden had 28 points with eight assists and the Houston Rockets rolled to an easy 129-106 win over the Minnesota Timberwolves on Thursday night.

Houston trailed by as many as 10 before using a big run in the second quarter to take the lead and padding the advantage with another run to start the third quarter.

It was Houston’s second straight game without Dwight Howard, who sat out with a strained left ankle. Omer Asik started in his place and filled in ably with a season-high-tying 12 points as the Rockets won for the seventh time in 10 games.

Kevin Love had 29 points and rookie Gorgui Dieng 22 points and 21 rebounds, which were both career-highs.