ATLANTA _ It's one of sport's oddities that Atlanta Hawks coach Mike Budenholzer can explain, but he's not complaining, not after his team beat the Timberwolves, 105-100, on Monday night at Philips Arena.
His Hawks had the NBA's worst record entering Monday's game, but they also had beaten their last five Western Conference opponents at home.
Make that six now.
They did so by prevailing a Wolves team that made a variety of mistakes when it mattered most.
As the game's final six minutes ticked away, they committed consecutive technical fouls, missed a free throw that would have completed a clutch three-point play and were called for an inbounds violation when Jeff Teague failed to get the ball into play with 14.5 seconds left.
Both the Hawks and the Wolves had chances to convert three-point plays in the game's final 73 seconds and each failed.
Ken Bazemore scored on a layup that gave his team a 101-98 lead with 1:13 and was fouled, but he missed the free throw.
Wolves forward Taj Gibson did the same 11 seconds later, when he grabbed a Jimmy Butler missed shot and put the ball back into the basket while he was fouled.
He, too, missed the free throw, a miss that kept the Wolves behind 101-100.
They never scored again.
The Wolves led 82-76 early in the fourth quarter, but the Hawks used an 11-2 run that included two goaltending calls against Wolves center Karl-Anthony Towns to take an 87-84 lead with less than 7 { minutes remaining.
The Hawks arrived at Monday's game last in the league with a 14-35 record, but they had beaten their last five Western Conference opponents at home, dating to a Dec. 23 victory over Dallas.
The list included San Antonio, Portland, New Orleans and Utah as well.
Such a streak is a mystery to Budenholzer.
"Probably more coincidental than anything," Budenholzer said. "I had no idea that was the case. It'd be great to beat an Eastern Conference team, too. We play a lot of them. I wouldn't begin to give you an explanation why."
The Wolves, meanwhile, came to Philips Arena 24-9 against Western team and 8-11 against the East.
Go figure.
The Wolves now have lost in January to opponents that were last or tied for last in the league after they lost at Orlando earlier this month.
The Wolves led 32-27 after a quarter and by six early in the second quarter before the Hawks' 14-2 run brought them from behind and into a 49-44 lead after Roseville's own Mike Muscala made a 3-pointer with 4:20 left before halftime.
The Wolves responded with a 12-2 run of their own and led 58-53 just before halftime before Schroder ended the first-half scoring by making a pair of free throws with 1.2 seconds left before intermission.
Teague returned to Atlanta, where he made the 2015 All-Star Game and helped lead the Hawks to 60 victories that season.
On Monday, he made just one of his 12 shots and scored but two points on a night when he also had 10 assists against his old mates.
His last miss came with his Wolves trailing 99-98 with 1 { minutes left when Hawks guard Ken Bazemore came from behind out of nowhere and blocked his fast-break layup
The player the Hawks chosen to build (and rebuild) with instead, Schroder had an 18-point, 11-assist night that included a high floater that gave the Hawks a 96-94 lead with 3:20 remaining.
