"The last time the Timberwolves played on their home court, they were pushed around by the Indiana Pacers and showed symptoms of not being tough enough, mentally or physically, to be considered one of the Western Conference's most improved teams.

But during the Wolves' 100-91 victory over the Houston Rockets on Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd of 19,356 at Target Center, there was evidence that the Wolves had erased those perceptions.

Kevin Love used his size-19 left foot to step on the face of Houston forward Luis Scola after Scola had fallen to the floor in a battle during a tense third quarter. In the fourth quarter, after almost blowing an 18-point lead in the third, the Wolves fought off a Rockets rally with two key offensive rebounds from center Nikola Pekovic and three-point baskets from Love and Luke Ridnour.

Not only did the Wolves show mental toughness to hold off Kevin McHale and his Rockets, Love led the way in delivering the "first blow" that was missing in Wednesday night's loss to the Pacers.

"Indiana, they punched first and we didn't respond," Wolves guard Ricky Rubio said. "We learned from that and we got the victory." "