Timberwolves roll past Blazers to close out perfect homestand

"I don't see it that way," Thibodeau said before closing out just the second 5-0 homestand in team history. "There's not any one magical moment. It's a byproduct of what you do every day. You're hopefully building the right habits. I know it's easy to say, 'Well, this triggered that.' It doesn't work that way."

Instead, he said, it's about consistency.

"The way it works is, are you doing the right things every day?" he said. "Are you preparing the right way? Are you putting everything you have into it? Are you concentrating? That's how you improve in this league."

Consider the Timberwolves much improved since a 17-13 start, mostly on the defensive end. More evidence came Sunday as they led by as many as 26 and reeled off a fifth straight win by double digits, one shy of their longest such streak (December 2001).

Jeff Teague, in just his third game back after missing time with a sprained left knee, dished out eight assists and had 22 points, falling one shy of his season scoring high.

Jimmy Butler, closing fast after three mostly quiet periods, led the winners with 24 points as the Timberwolves placed six scorers in double figures. Three of those reached 20 points, including Karl-Anthony Towns, who added 11 rebounds.

After a defensively ambivalent first period, the Timberwolves locked in and mounted a 16-2 run that saw them hold the visitors scoreless for more than seven minutes. It helped that foul trouble limited the dangerous guard CJ McCollum to just seven minutes in the opening half.

Andrew Wiggins (17 points) took just one shot in the second period, the Wolves' last, but they still built a 14-point edge at the break while forcing 12 turnovers and limiting the Blazers to 41.7 percent shooting from the field.

Damian Lillard, who entered ninth in the league scoring race at 24.9 points per game, was held to nine first-half points and finished with a team-high 21.

At 29-16, the Wolves have their best record through 45 games since 2003-04, when they were 32-13 and reached the playoffs most recently. Sunday's win also pulled them back within a half game of the San Antonio Spurs for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference playoff race.

Tuesday in Orlando, the Wolves begin a stretch in which they will play five of six, seven of nine and nine of 13 games on the road. The Wolves have two more games left with the Blazers (22-21), both in Portland: Jan. 24 and March 1.