Best of the East hammers Wolves

A team that oozes consistency and continuity defeated an opponent still saying howdy to one another Monday night at Target Center, where Atlanta continued pursuit of the NBA's best record by beating 117-105 a Timberwolves team that re-introduces its cast of characters seemingly by the night.

This time, the Wolves added second-year forward Shabazz Muhammad — out the past month because of an abdominal strain — into a simmering stew that just fairly recently brought back Nikola Pekovic, Kevin Martin and Ricky Rubio.

The Hawks have taken strategies and beliefs coach Mike Budenholzer packed with him after nearly two decades spent beside Gregg Popovich in San Antonio and uniquely made them their own this season. They have done so with an unsung lineup that moves the basketball with both precision and beauty. On Monday, they also outmuscled the Wolves at every position, beating a team that had won a season-best three consecutive games by beating Miami, Memphis and Detroit.

Atlanta won for the 22nd time in 24 games, dating to the day after Christmas on a night when Popovich won his 1,000th career game in Indiana while Budenholzer won his 81st game as Hawks coach, including for the 43rd time in 53 games this season.

At 43-10, the Hawks remain percentage points behind Golden State, which visits Target Center on Wednesday.

"They play for each other," Martin said of the Hawks, who are sending Al Horford, Paul Millsap and Jeff Teague to Sunday's All-Star Game in New York. "No superstars, no egos. That's why they're one of the NBA's best teams."

The Hawks won this one with a 29-19 third quarter in which they turned a four-point halftime lead into an 84-66 advantage. Small forward DeMarre Carroll exemplified what Wolves coach Flip Saunders called the manhandling of his team across the board by scoring 11 of his career-high 26 points in that quarter.

Saunders lamented his team's lack of energy they had shown by winning its past three games, but added, "They can suck energy out of you the way they play. There's a reason they have three All-Stars, a reason why they've won 43 games, because of how they play. This is a team that's been together for a while and they know how to play. Every time you gamble or you make a defensive mistake, they make you pay for it."

And mistakes the Wolves will make while they try to find exactly where Muhammad, Martin, Pekovic and Rubio all fit into a team that struggled to win while they were out.

Muhammad played nearly 24 minutes in Monday's return and demonstrated he didn't leave his aggressiveness in Vancouver, where he worked with the same doctor who treated Steve Nash throughout his career.

Muhammad scored seven points in just his first four minutes and 18 for the night, But Saunders said he thought Pekovic and Rubio were both tired, even though Rubio didn't play Sunday.

"I thought I was going to be rusty," Muhammad said. "I thought my conditioning was going to be done a little bit, too, but I felt a little faster out there. I don't know what it was. When I was out, I was trying to really watch what I ate. I think that helped a lot."

Saunders suggests Pekovic, Martin, Rubio and Muhammad all still are back in training camp, trying to reacquaint their bodies to game action as well as their minds to their teammates, and vice versa.

Monday's game showed how much further the Wolves must go.

"We've known that," Saunders said. "We're getting everyone back and we're playing a well-oiled machine that's been going for four months. So I think for us to expect to walk in and look like a well-oiled machine, that's not just going to happen."