NEW YORK _ There are just some things you can't explain. Like why the Timberwolves have fared so well against a rugged Western Conference and are coming close to having their playoff hopes dashed by their lousy record against teams in the East.
Friday's laborious 108-104 victory over the New York Knicks in Madison Square Garden didn't do much to solve the mystery.
Playing an opponent missing four players that included Knicks star Kristaps Porzingis, the Wolves rescued themselves in the fourth quarter after they had allowed a New York team headed once again for the lottery to score the third quarter's first 15 points.
Until Friday, the Wolves were 30-15 against teams in the Western Conference _ including 9-4 in their own Northwest Division _ but a mere 11-16 against Eastern teams.
Until Friday, they also had lost each once to every Eastern team but the Knicks, which is a feat when you consider they play each Eastern team only twice a season.
They held on to sweep their two-game season series even after the Knicks turned a 103-96 deficit with 3:50 left into a 105-101 deficit in the final minute.
Karl-Anthony Towns led the Wolves with a 24-point, 13-rebound double-double while Knicks guard Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 39 points, 31 of them in the first three quarters.
The Knicks now are 26-47 and have lost 19 of their last 22 games.
Leading by as many as 16 points in the second quarter and trailing by seven points in the third, the Wolves rebuilt their lead to 101-89 with six minutes left in the game.
They did so partly with Towns off the floor in foul trouble to end the third quarter and begin the fourth.
They did so also with veteran forward Taj Gibson providing a huge put-back with eight minutes left after the Knicks were one possession away from getting back within three points.
Hardaway scored 19 points in the Knicks' 34-27 third quarter.
The Wolves led 9-2, 17-7 and 26-11 in the game's first eight minutes and pushed it to as much as 43-27 by early in the second quarter before the Knicks pushed back.
Playing without Porzingis, Joakim Noah, Lance Thomas and Ron Baker for various reasons, the Knicks drew within nine points by halftime and turned a 57-48 deficit at intermission quickly into a 66-59 lead after those score those first 15 points to start the third quarter.
They led by as many as seven points before the Wolves rallied to tie the score at 68 midway through the third quarter and the Knicks came right back to lead by five points by late in the quarter.
But as the Knicks scored those first 15 points, the Wolves closed the third quarter by scoring the final seven points and they led 84-82 entering the fourth quarter.
The Wolves did so late in the third without Towns, who picked up his third foul with 2:18 left in the quarter.
Gorgui Dieng entered the game and Towns came out until he re-entered the game with fewer than nine minutes remaining.
In the meantime, Dieng contributed a rim-rattling slam dunk and a faked 3-point shot from which he stepped forward and made a wide open two-point shot.
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