WASHINGTON, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The Houston Rockets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves with the second-highest scoring quarter in NBA playoff history for a 119-100 victory in Game 4 on Monday and built a 3-1 overall lead in the two teams' clash in the first round playoffs series.

After a lackluster performance in the first half, Houston were on fire and scored a near-record 50 points in the third quarter, spearheaded by superstars James Harden's 22 and Chris Paul's 15 points in this quarter. The Rockets led 100-69 after the quarter and never looked back.

The Los Angeles Lakers scored 51 points in the fourth quarter of a playoff loss to the Detroit Pistons on March 31, 1962.

Harden had 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting in the quarter, which set a franchise record for points in a quarter, breaking Hakeem Olajuwon's mark of 18 set against the Utah Jazz on May 5, 1995.

Harden had 36 points overall, Paul added 25 and center Clint Capela had 14 points and 17 rebounds for Houston. Eric Gordon came off the bench to score 18 points.

Center Karl-Anthony Towns had 22 points and All-Star guard Jimmy Butler claimed 19 points for Timberwolves.

Game five will be played in Houston on Wednesday.