NBA Power Rankings: Is it time to start talking about San Antonio Spurs?

. Minnesota Timberwolves. 24. team. 86. For the Minnesota Timberwolves, this has been the ultimate “two steps forward, one step back” season. Both Andrew Wiggins and Zach LaVine have upped their game and skill and look like great complementary star pieces to the supernova star that is Karl-Anthony Towns (two steps forward). However, the team has shown its youth as they have been unable to win close games for most of the year (one step back). Their third quarter struggles have really stuck out, but their failure to close out teams like the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors at home despite holding double-digit leads in the final quarter are really going to drive Tom Thibodeau crazy. LaVine and Wiggins must keep up their development if this team has any shot at coming close to matching the preseason prognosticators that projected them to vaunt into the playoffs as early as this year. There’s time for them to find their way back into the playoff race, but it means that they will have to start running off wins. That also means that they’ll have to stop squandering double-digit leads in the second half of games as well.. 8-19