Timberwolves President Tim Connelly has said that after 20 games of an NBA seasons, teams have a good idea of who they are. If that holds true, that would be great news for the 17-4 Wolves, who have the best record in the league.
The Wolves just exited a soft four-game stretch of the schedule and now enter one of their most difficult patches. Between now and January 10, the Wolves will play 16 games, all of them against teams who entered Saturday above .500, with 11 of those games coming on the road.
Their schedule lightens after that, but the next month will be a gantlet, and likely their most difficult stretch of the season, and they will see what's real about their early success and what they may need to fix.