The Timberwolves were probably owed some grace over the first half of the season.

A major roster shake up on the eve of training camp was always going to require some time to settle. Gelling isn’t an overnight occurrence. The puzzle of lineups, minute distributions and appropriate actions to run takes time to solve.

In the early portions of the season, it was easy to wonder if Minnesota had a path to being a high-caliber team.

But the ensuing results showed that the Timberwolves can again contend in the Western Conference.

Minnesota is 23-15 since Nov. 29, the eighth-best record in the NBA.

Over the past month, the Wolves are 9-4 while sporting the NBA’s seventh-best offensive rating (118.2 points scored per 100 possessions), fourth-best defensive rating (109.6 allowed) and third best net rating, outscoring opponents by 8.6 points per 100 possessions in that span.

Highlighting the recent stretch was a blitzing of Oklahoma City, the best team in the NBA, at Target Center in Minnesota’s final game before the all-star break. The Wolves did that while missing three of its top eight players, with Julius Randle, Donte DiVincenzo and Mike Conley out with injuries.

Minnesota’s peaks are high. When the Wolves are into the ball defensively, moving the ball to generate opportunities for all offensively and crashing the glass on the offensive end, the Wolves are tough to beat.

But that all takes effort, and the challenge for Minnesota is mustering up that juice on a night-to-night basis. Mixed into the recent successes were a loss to severely-shorthanded Milwaukee and a no-show in Cleveland.

If the Wolves can consistently be the team they’ve shown they can be over the final third of the season, starting Friday in Houston, they can climb up the West standings and position themselves well for another potential postseason run.

Minnesota comes out of the break with that Rockets bout, followed by consecutive tilts against the Thunder. But it’s relatively smooth sailing from there. Minnesota’s remaining schedule is the fifth-easiest in the NBA, per Tankathon.com.

The Wolves — who figure to approach full health in the coming weeks — have quite a runway from which to truly take off.

The formula for success has been discovered. How frequently can Minnesota concoct it?

“I think, to me, it’s a lot about approach. Having kind of a killer mindset,” head coach Chris Finch said.

“I think we’ve done a better job focusing in over the last month or so. But I think there’s another level to go for us.”

“There’s no more learning about who we are, there’s no more rough spots. We’ve got to go. We’ve seen enough of what we can do, whether we’re healthy or banged up, that we’ve got to be ready to go every night.”