By Mark Remme
Corey Brewer didn’t expect to score 51 in the Timberwolves’ 112-110 win over Houston on Friday night. Heck, he never expected to score 50 in an NBA game, period. That’s not his style. He’s not depended on to put up big scoring totals every night—never has been at this level. In fact, he said he hasn’t put up 50 in a game since high school.
So Brewer wasn’t thinking he’d do it when he had 26 at halftime. He wasn’t convinced he’d have a shot when he had 38 after three. And when Kevin Martin told him he could join the club—meaning the 50-Point Club only Martin and Kevin Love have membership to on this Timberwolves team—Brewer just shrugged it off.
“I was just playing—I wasn’t thinking about it until someone said you have 44, you could get 50 tonight,” Brewer said. “I was like, OK, whatever, then I actually got 50.”
In the process, he tied Love’s franchise record for most points in a single game. And he’s the only Wolves player in team history to score 50 in regulation.
It was an evening like no other for Brewer, who unassumingly became the focal point of a Timberwolves offense that, between the absence of Kevin Love, Kevin Martin, Nikola Pekovic, Chase Budinger and Shabazz Muhammad due to injury was missing about 74 of their regular points per game, needed someone to take control. Someone to take the shots.
Brewer did just that. He slashed, he forced the issue, he got to the free-throw line and he got out in transition as we’ve seen so often this year. He took control on a night someone needed to, and he willed the Timberwolves to victory over a Rockets team that very much needed this win to keep a comfortable hold on home court advantage in the playoffs.
On this night, Houston would have to settle for defeat. Brewer was a major factor in that. Since he re-joined the Wolves this offseason he’s had his ups and downs production-wise, but his energy and determination have never waned. The Wolves know what they’ll get out of Brewer every night, and that’s raw energy. He can run for miles, it seems, and on Friday night his determination led to a Timberwolves victory.
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