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The San Antonio Spurs (31-6) are on pace to set a franchise record for wins this season. They’ve already had two separate winning streaks over 10 games and have an impressive record of 21-3 against Western Conference opponents. They’ve quickly re-established themselves as contenders, but there’s been a surprising team that has been extremely problematic for them: the Minnesota Timberwolves 

While the Los Angeles Lakers and Oklahoma City Thunder have been unable to stay within double digits of the Spurs in their three matchups, the Timberwolves have given them all they can handle. In a contest on November 24th the Wolves had the Spurs down by as many as 21, and also had a 15-point lead against them on December 3rd. On Sunday night they had another hard-fought game in which the Spurs managed to win 94-91, but it was far from easy.

"Minnesota has been tough for us," said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. "As far as I’m concerned they’re 24 and 6 or something. They play their butts off and they run good stuff. Kurt Rambis has got them disciplined and they’re doing a great job. It’s going to turn for them. I’m just thrilled that we got away from them again."

"They’re a lot better than their record indicates," added Spurs forward Matt Bonner. "They’re young, talented, athletic, pretty much all of them can shoot threes. They play really hard on defense. To me, it’s only a matter of time before they turn it around based on how they play us at least. They play hard on both sides of the ball. We’ve had our hands full trying to get our three wins against them this year and it’s going to be even harder to get that fourth game. They play us tough, they’re better than their record indicates and we’re going to have to bring it if we want to try to get that fourth win on Tuesday."

{AUTHOR_BOX}Some rebuilding teams like the Wolves would be fine with the morale victory that comes with playing a contender like the Spurs so close. However, the Wolves have been in such advantageous positions over San Antonio that their inability to knock them off has become more frustrating than comforting.

"We are close," said Timberwolves head coach Kurt Rambis. "We are there. We will get over the hump and we will find a way."

"It’s pretty frustrating because we match up pretty well against them," agreed Wolves big man Kevin Love. "We’ve taken them to three very tight games and an overtime game. We have one on Tuesday so hopefully we don’t sulk on this."

Tonight presents the Timberwolves their final opportunity to get a W against the Spurs. They have all the confidence in the world in their ability to play against them, but they may be without the services of leading-scorer Michael Beasley. Beasley, averaging a career-best 21 points a contest, tweaked his ankle on Sunday in San Antonio and is a game-time decision for this evening’s contest. Without him the Wolves are a different team.

"It hurt losing him," said Rambis after Sunday’s loss. "He is an integral part of our offense. He is someone we get the ball to. He is a difficult cover for most teams but that’s the way it goes sometimes."

Still, despite Beasley’s status being in doubt the Wolves wouldn’t want to play anyone else tonight.

"Why not?" asked Love. "We came close three out of three times now. Hopefully the fourth time it will be for us."

Win or lose, the Wolves have earned the Spurs’ respect this season. There may not be many who believe in the Wolves or their front offices’ plan, but the Spurs do and that says far more than the approval of the masses.

HOOPSWORLD’s senior NBA and NCAA analyst Yannis Koutroupis will be hosting his weekly chat this Friday. You can get your questions into him here and you can also follow him on twitter.