After thirteen straight losses, the Minnesota Timberwolves have won four in a row and six of their last eight games. Yeah, they’re beating most of the non-playoff teams at this stretch, but somehow you have to believe 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 confidence, I’d say,” McHale said after the Wolves extended their winning streak to four games Wednesday night with a resounding 129-87 victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. “They’re confident. They feel good playing basketball.”

They’re shooting the ball well and they’re running mostly because of Telfair running the point. This guy has been inconsistent but he can run fast breaks. In their last 8 games, the Wolves have averaged close to 108 points per game. This is an increase of 94 per game in his first 27 games.

2. Better spacing

The Wolves always struggled with their space in their half court set. This was mainly caused by Randy Foye executing the point, but now that he’s playing off guard, it looks like this problem has been fixed. One more reason they can solve this problem is that they are running more and letting Brian Cardinal play. What? 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 in the driving lanes of his teammates 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’s also averaging 3.25 3-pointers and is shooting 54% from the field. Keep it up and Wolves fans can forget almost landing shooting guard OJ Mayo in that Mayo-Love (with Mike Miller) draft-day trade. They should be happy with Foye.

4. A change in the lineup

Speaking of shooting guard, Foye has been starting at his shooting guard for the past nine games and has won six of them. Foye’s experiment at point guard obviously didn’t work out, as he seems more comfortable as a scorer and playing off the ball. Sebastian Telfair appears to be the point guard in the near future and he has looked effective. Mike Miller, who has been struggling with ankle problems lately, has been coming off the bench. This has worked out well for the Wolves, as Mike Miller is already familiar with this role having won sixth man the year before.

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, he has been very consistent scoring the ball lately, especially on his 3-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 the 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 the 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 for yourself.”