Here are 56 reasons to remember last Timberwolves-Hawks game

It's your friendly, old Wolves beat writer Jerry Zgoda here, taking over in a special guest appearance today and tonight for Chris Hine.

Atlanta is in town for a rare home game during this road-heavy part of the Wolves' schedule. The Wolves had won just two of their first 15 road games before winning their last two, Sunday at Oklahoma City and Wednesday at Chicago.

Last time the Hawks were here, the Wolves were fighting for a playoff spot at the end of March and young star Karl Anthony-Towns delivered a franchise-record, 56-point night.

The Wolves won 126-114 in a game against the Hawks from the troublesome East that they absolutely had to win.

Towns surpassed the likes of Kevin Love, Corey Brewer and Mo Williams for the franchise scoring record on a night when he took 32 shots, made six three-pointers and another three free throws after he was fouled attempting a three.

He scored 17 of those 56 points in the fourth quarter alone.

Towns didn't wax very sentimental about the occasion when asked about it after morning shootaround today.

"It was put the ball in the basket a lot," he said. "We needed the win if we were going to have a chance to make the playoffs, I just remember it being a tight game. Usually when you get 56 points, it's a blowout or something. This wasn't like that. It was a tight game. I'll take 10 points, five points and have it be a comfortable game for us instead."

When asked if he has watched that game again since then, Towns said, "No, I was there."

Teammate Gorgui Dieng was there, too, and he still remembers.

"That was great," Dieng said. "Everybody knows KAT is a special player. He can do a lot for this team with his ability to score the ball. It was a great night for him. Hopefully, he'll have another great night tonight. When KAT is playing well, the team is playing well. That's how it is. We need him to play like that every night."

The Hawks are 9-24, but with rookies Trae Young and Kevin Huerter they won three consecutive games -- including road games at New York and Detroit -- before losing 129-121 to Indiana on Wednesday.

"You don't want to look at their record, you want to look at how they're playing now and they're playing great," Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau said.

Wolves starting point guard Jeff Teague participated in morning shoot, but Thibodeau said he won't play tonight. Teague has missed last five games because of inflammation in his left ankle.

"He actually moved a lot better today, so that's encouraging," Thibodeau said. "He's still not there, but he went through most of practice today."