The Toronto Raptors travel to Minneapolis to play the Minnesota Timberwolves at Target Center on Wednesday.

The Raptors (23-52) come into this matchup losing 14 straight games. It's hard to believe this team was battling for a playoff spot before that nightmarish run, but the writing was on the wall when they made some big trades earlier in the season. This team parted ways with Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby while losing Jakob Poeltl and Scottie Barnes to injuries. That's too many absences to make up, despite RJ Barrett, Immanuel Qyickley and Kelly Olynyk all playing well for their new team. Losing 14 games in a row is more about effort than anything else, though, because this club has the talent to beat at least one of those teams.

The Timberwolves (52-23) have been the biggest surprise in the NBA, battling for the top seed in the Western Conference. Nobody could have seen that coming at the beginning of the year, with Minnesota sitting 0,5 games behind the Denver Nuggets in first. We also saw the Timberwolves defeat the Nuggets a few nights ago, and this team feels like they match up well with the defending champs. What's made Minnesota such a scary team is their defense, posting the best defensive rating in the NBA. That can be attributed to the addition of Rudy Gobert because he changes everything with the way he protects the basket and the paint.

These teams played back on October 25, with Toronto prevailing, 97-94. The Raptors have won five of their last six games over the Timberwolves in this series.