MINNEAPOLIS _ As has become recent custom for the Timberwolves, the shots were falling, including 10 from downtown.
In downtown Minneapolis all is well.
Sunday at Target Center the Timberwolves finished off a rare home-and-home back-to-back with a 112-94 victory over Charlotte in front of an announced crowd of 14,124 fans.
For the first time since January of 2009 the Timberwolves (7-3) have a five-game winning streak. They left Target Center on Sunday night tied with Golden State for the second-best record in the NBA's Western Conference. And is mighty convenient, seeing as Minnesota will play at Golden State Wednesday looking for the franchise's first six-game winning streak since the Wolves won the final nine games of the 2003-04 regular season.
That was back in the days when guys like Kevin Garnett, Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell were making the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine.
Once again the scoring was remarkably balanced. Point guard Jeff Teague had his second-straight double-double with 18 points, 12 assists and five rebounds. He hit knocked down four of the team's 10 3-pointers, including two straight in a second-quarter run that put the Wolves in charge for good.
Minnesota also got 20 points from Andrew Wiggins, 16 from Karl-Anthony Towns and 13 from Jimmy Butler. Both Gorgui Dieng and Jamal Crawford were in double figures off the suddenly-revived bench.
That was too much for the Hornets (5-5), who saw the game get away in the second quarter, when the Wolves out-scored Charlotte 40-23, finishing the half on a 26-10 run.
Charlotte was led by Cody Zeller's 15 points. Marvin Williams, Dwight Howard and Jeremy Lamb all scored 13 points.
Frankly, the game was never really in question after that. A small 7-3 run by Charlotte to start the third quarter led to a Wolves time out. But, out of the break, the Wolves quickly gained back control.
It was the Wolves' second-straight one-sided win after the first four wins were nail-biters.
The first quarter was lacking on defense, on both sides. The Hornets hit on 11 of 18 shots, including five of eight 3-pointers. The Wolves hit on 12 of 22 shots.
The result: a 28-28 tie that featured six ties and eight lead changes in the first 12 minutes. Down 20-14, the Wolves rallied to take a 21-20 lead with just over 3 minutes left in the quarter, setting the stage for a back-and-forth final 180 seconds.
In the second quarter the Wolves offense exploded, a 12-minute, 40-23 Wolves run in which four players had six or more points.
Leading the way: Teague.
The Wolves held a 42-41 lead when things got rolling. Three free throws put the Wolves up four. Then Teague hit a three-pointer. Next time down, he hit another. After another Hornets miss, Teague faked the three, penetrated, then dished to Butler, who hit another three-pointer and the Wolves were up 54-43 with 3:35 left in the half.
And Minnesota wasn't done.
Towns and Butler each had six second-quarter points. Crawford had eight. The lead grew to 18 on Towns' put-back. Late in the half it grew to 19 on two free throws by Towns, before Kemba Walker finished the half with a layup.
In all, the Wolves hit on five of nine 3-pointers in the 40-point second quarter, their second-biggest quarter of the season.
