MINNEAPOLIS _ The Timberwolves still trail playoff-aimed Oklahoma City by nine games in the Western Conference even after Tuesday's rollicking 131-120 victory, but that doesn't mean they don't own the Thunder.
At least not since the start of last season.
After Tuesday's decisive decision ended a three-game losing streak, the Wolves now are 6-1 vs. an opponent that features All-Stars Russell Westbrook and Paul George.
Until Tuesday, six of the last seven meetings between the teams had been decided by four points or fewer.
This time, the Wolves scored 71 points by halftime. They also led by as many as 18 points, trailed by no more than three points and held a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter until less than a minute remained.
When the Thunder pulled with 10 in the final three minutes, Wolves point guard Jeff Teague answered with a forced, banked 3-pointer that pushed the lead back to 13 points.
Wolves star Karl-Anthony Towns delivered a 41-point, 14-rebound performance even though he sat down before the game was four minutes old because of foul trouble. Andrew Wiggins added 18 points and Derrick Rose scored 19 off the bench.
Towns entered the game needing 11 points to surpass Wally Szczerbiak and move into fifth place on the club's all-time scoring list, behind only Kevin Garnett (19,201), Wiggins (7,449), Sam Mitchell (7,171) and Kevin Love (6,989).
He did so with a perimeter set shot that gave his team a 54-42 lead with fewer than five minutes remaining in a first half that swung from an early Wolves' 13-3 lead to a 20-17 Thunder lead and then back again, until the Wolves held a 71-57 bulge at halftime.
Towns moved up to fifth all time on a scoring list that includes No. 8 Tony Campbell, an original Timberwolf who watched on at Target Center Tuesday while in town as part of the Wolves' efforts to reach and celebrate its alumni.
It was Campbell who scored 4,888 career points in the team's infancy. It was Campbell who also uttered one of the most memorable quotes in club history when he fell hard on his butt one night long ago. When asked about his tailbone he said, "My gluteus maximus is hurteous enormous."
Towns found himself sitting down before the game was four minutes old after he picked up two quick fouls. By halftime, though, he had 15 points on 5-for-9 shooting after playing just seven more minutes. He entered the game averaging 35.3 points on 61.9 percent (52 for 84) shooting with 16.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists in his previous four games.
By late in the third quarter, Towns had already his reached 30 points for the 16th time this season. By then, he was 3 for 3 on 3-point attempts, which pushed his accuracy for the season to 40.1 percent.
Wiggins' 3-pointer that ended the third quarter gave the Wolves a 102-87 lead on a night when he merely scored those 18 points.
Merely because he had averaged 35 points in the teams' first two meetings this season. He scored 30, including the go-ahead layup with 14.5 seconds left, in a 114-112 victory on Dec. 23. He topped that with a season-high 40 points and 10 rebounds and assisted on Josh Okogie's crucial 3-point shot that helped produce a 119-117 victory in Ryan Saunders' debut as the Wolves' interim coach.
Both games came in Oklahoma City, where Wiggins defeated the Thunder the season before with a desperation, banked heave from well beyond the 3-point line just before the final buzzer.
Westbrook finished with 38 points, 13 rebounds and six assists while George scored 25 points.
George returned to the Thunder's starting lineup after he missed the last three games because of right shoulder soreness. It had lost the first two of those three _ extending an overall losing streak to four games _ before overcoming Memphis to win 99-95 at home on Sunday.
