(My Sportsbook) - There was a postseason feel to Sunday's game between the Portland Trail Blazers and Minnesota Timberwolves with the likelihood that the teams will end up squaring off in the first round of the playoffs. Adding even more juice to the game was the home-court advantage factor.

Coming into the contest, the Wolves trailed the Blazers by 1 1/2 games for the fourth seed in the Western Conference, the final spot that ensures home-court advantage. Minnesota has never had a home-court edge in its brief playoff history and the team has failed to advance past the first round.

The Wolves came through with a 111-95 home victory over Portland to close the gap to one-half game.

"I can rarely remember since I've been here that we've said, 'This is a must- win game.' We told our guys yesterday, 'This is a must-win game,'" Minnesota coach Flip Saunders said. "If we had any visions of getting to No. 4, we have to win this game."

Wally Szczerbiak led six Wolves in double figures with 20 points, hitting 5- of-6 three-point attempts. Kevin Garnett again came up big in a crucial game, collected his fifth triple-double of the season. He scored 17 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and dished out 10 assists.

"This was a big one," Szczerbiak said. "We're chasing Portland and we knew we had to do whatever we had to do to get this win. We did that today, but we can't relax."

The Wolves, who led by as many as 24, shot 51 percent from the field, including 10-of-17 from three-point range, and sank 15-of-17 free throws. Marc Jackson had his best game of the season for Minnesota, totaling 15 points and 12 boards, and Troy Hudson added 13 points in the win.

On Monday, the Blazers posted a 95-88 victory over the Indiana Pacers to push their advantage to one game over the Wolves.

Minnesota has won two of the three meetings with the Blazers this season, with one more tilt scheduled for April 6 in Portland. The T'wolves need to win that contest to secure the tiebreaker should the teams be knotted at the end of the regular season.

It's tough to tell which team has the harder schedule down the stretch. The Blazers play nine of their final 15 games at home, but have 10 games against teams with plus-.500 records. Only six of Minnesota's final 13 games will take place in its building. Fortunately, the team faces just five teams with plus-.500 records the rest of the way.

The Wolves got some insurance at the point guard position on Tuesday as they activated Rod Strickland from the injured list. Strickland, who has missed the team's last 24 games with a strained left groin, is averaging 7.1 points and 4.5 assists in 43 contests this season.