The Minnesota Timberwolves are starting to heat up…

In case you hadn’t noticed, the Minnesota Timberwolves are on a heater and are drawing ever-closer to the San Antonio Spurs, who currently sit third in the Western Conference.

After starting the season 17-13 with loss No. 13 coming at home to a bad Phoenix Suns team, the Minnesota Timberwolves have turned things around.

The Wolves are 27-16 following Wednesday’s win over the Thunder and are still fresh off of their most impressive win of the year: a 127-99 win over LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday night.

From Jace Frederick of the St. Paul Pioneer Press:

"“It’s a good sign that the last two games … we’ve been able to garner a lead and not only keep it, but build on it,” Karl-Anthony Towns said. “We’re having a lot more maturity, we’re doing a great job defensively. When we play defense like the way we did tonight … we’re very hard to beat.”"

The Wolves have allowed fewer than 100 points in each of their past seven games (five wins), and five of their past nine wins have been by 17 points or more.

Jimmy Butler continues to prove that the Wolves made the right call to trade for him. Taj Gibson and Jamal Crawford have also been nice additions. Jeff Teague returned from injury on Wednesday night and has been solid, too.

Any time you have this many new faces on the roster, it will take some time for the team to gel. The 2003-04 team started 9-8 before going on a hot streak and finishing the season at 58-24 with new additions Sam Cassell, Latrell Sprewell, Trenton Hassell, Fred Hoiberg and Mark Madsen to of course go along Kevin Garnett.

This team is not as good, but like that team, they too needed some time to develop chemistry. Additionally, Butler and Gibson have continued to get better.

Butler averaged 26.5 points per game in December and 22.8 so far in January. Earlier he was just one of the guys, but now he is without a doubt their star player. His defense also continues to be sensational.

Gibson averaged eight points and 5.6 rebounds per game in the first seven games of the year. He is currently averaging 11.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. Obviously, his defense has helped a great deal as well.

Currently, the Wolves are the fourth seed, which going into the season looked like a good possibility for their final seeding. And the fans are extremely excited. The past five games at Target Center have been sold out — the first time that this has happened since that 2003-04 season.

Next: Timberwolves Power Rankings: Stars shine through

It’s hard to not be excited if you’re a Wolves fan. This is the best they have looked since they last made the playoffs, which, of course, is the longest drought in the league. And barring any significant injuries, they should continue to play well.