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Perkins asserts that the T-wolves are a more significant threat in the West than the Warriors.

The red-hot Warriors (37-28) aren’t the only ones surging in the Western Conference at the right time.

The Minnesota Timberwolves (38-29) have won six games in a row and are neck-and-neck with Golden State for the Western Conference’s No. 6 playoff seed. While both teams are undoubtedly playing their best basketball of the season, ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins is convinced by only one of them.

“Oh, right now. Right now we have to start taking them serious,” Perkins said Wednesday night on “Sports Center” of the Timberwolves after Minnesota’s 115-95 win over the Denver Nuggets. “They’re more serious than the Golden State Warriors to me when it comes to being a threat in the Western Conference. And now what we’re watching is a Minnesota Timberwolves team that has found their identity again, and that’s getting it done defensively.

“We have them lock up the Denver Nuggets tonight, holding them to 40-percent shooting, 20 percent from 3-point range. But again, it comes down to Anthony Edwards leading the charge. We know he’s going to put up points and put up buckets, but when you watch Anthony Edwards engaged on the defensive side of things, picking up 94 feet, the rest will follow their best player.”

Like the Timberwolves, the Warriors have been on a hot stretch of their own.

Since their big trade deadline acquisition of six-time NBA All-Star Jimmy Butler, Golden State is 12-2 and winners of its last five contests and 10 of its last 11.

With Butler in the mix, Curry is averaging 29.9 points on 49.6-percent shooting from the field and 42.4 percent from 3-point range, with 4.1 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 1.1 steals in 32.9 minutes in 14 games.

For the Timberwolves, Edwards is averaging 25.8 points on 51.3-percent shooting from the field and 41.3 percent from long range, with 5.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.0 steals in 34.7 minutes in his last five games.

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