After thirteen straight losses, the Minnesota Timberwolves have won four in a row and six of their last eight games. Yes, they’re beating most non-playoff teams this stretch, but somehow you have to believe that this team is actually growing and improving. Thanks to Randy Foye and Al Jefferson, the Wolves are the best team in the NBA right now.

What about this team?

1. They are playing with confidence

“Probably confident, I would say,” McHale said after the Wolves extended their winning streak to four games on Wednesday night with a resounding 129-87 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. “They have confidence. They feel good playing basketball.”

They are shooting the ball well and running mostly due to Telfair handling the point. This guy has been inconsistent but can run counters. In their last 8 games, the Wolves have averaged close to 108 points per game. This is an increase from 94 per game in his first 27 games.

2. Better spacing

The Wolves have always had problems with their space in their half court set. This was mostly caused by Randy Foye executing the point, but now that he’s playing off guard, this problem seems to have been fixed. One more reason they can solve this problem is that they are running more and letting Brian Cardinal play. That? WHO?? Yeah Cardinal, to me, he’s just a smart player. He is also a good defender but the best thing is that he knows where to position himself in attack. He doesn’t get into his teammates’ driving lanes and creates enough space for him to be a threat from the outside as well.

3. Foye is on fire

In his four straight wins, Randy Foye is averaging 23.25 points per game more than his season average of 15. He is also averaging 3.25 3-pointers and is shooting 54% from the field. Keep it up and Wolves fans can forget about nearly landing guard OJ Mayo in that Mayo-Love (with Mike Miller) draft-day trade. They should be happy with Foye.

4. A change in lineup

Speaking of shooting guard, Foye has been starting at their shooting guard in the last nine games and has won six of them. Foye’s experiment at point guard obviously didn’t work, as he seems more comfortable shooting and playing off the ball. Sebastian Telfair appears to be the point guard in the near future and has been seen to be effective. Mike Miller, who has had ankle problems of late, has been coming off the bench. This has gone well for Wolves as Mike Miller is already familiar with this role having won the sixth man the previous year.

5. Constant improvement of Gomes and Love

In his last four games, Kevin Love has found a way to get his rebounds and score efficiently. His overall fg% has increased due to his shooting 58% in those four wins and he has averaged 12.25 points and 10.5 rebounds. This is a much better performance compared to games where he went 0-7, 0-4 and so on. As for Gomes, lately he has been very consistent scoring the ball, especially with his three-pointers. The best part of the game about him is that he is one of the best defenders in Minnesota.

6. Who could forget Al Jeff?

It’s great to see Wolves win as Big Al has been working hard the last two years. He has just been a consistent player and has been racking up 4 double doubles in a row. This trend could continue as they face the Bucks, Heat, Suns and Clippers in their next 4 games. Al Jeff somehow plays well when he’s against the Suns.

7. McCants meet

In his last four wins, Rashad McCants has played a total of 13:41 and has had two DNP-CDs. This could be a good thing for Wolves. Although he is a good offensive player, he sometimes lacks energy in games. The role of him coming off the bench has been given to Mike Miller and some of his minutes have been given to Rodney Carney.

“I thought Rashad played well when he played,” McHale said. “You can’t play everyone. His time will come again. You have to practice hard, put your nose to the grindstone, and make it happen yourself.”