Up next for Wolves is a long stretch against league's best

If you're a Timberwolves fan suddenly concerned your now-healthy team just might win too many games these final two months, know this:

Monday night's home game against Atlanta began a stretch of 14 opponents who were winning games at a 63 percent rate.

Between Monday and a March 15 game at San Antonio, the only team on their schedule with a winning percentage below .570 is Denver.

The rest: The NBA's second-best Hawks followed by league-best Golden State, followed after the All-Star break by Phoenix (twice), Houston, Washington, Chicago, Memphis, the L.A. Clippers (twice), Oklahoma City and the Spurs.

"For me, it's even more interesting, it's fun to play against those kinds of teams," Wolves point guard Ricky Rubio said. "We want to compete every game. The record doesn't mean anything when you step on the court. We beat Memphis [Friday] here at home and they had, what, 20 or 25 victories more than us? We don't play for the record. We play every game like it's 0-0."

Wolves coach Flip Saunders said it's not much different than a recent completed stretch that included Cleveland, Dallas, Memphis and now offers the Hawks and Warriors.

"I'm not looking past the next one," Saunders said. "We're not scheduling any Division III Augsburgs here, and that's not taking anything from Augsburg. They're just not the University of Minnesota."

Veteran Mo Williams isn't peering into the future, either. "I don't know the schedule past Wednesday, I'm not going to lie to you," he said.

Clock's ticking

Williams might not be looking too far ahead because he knows he could be playing his final two games with the Wolves. The league's Feb. 19 trade deadline comes one day before play resumes from the All-Star break.

He is the most likely player to be traded because he's a proven point guard with an expiring contract. On Monday, Yahoo Sports reported discussions with Charlotte on a trade that would send Williams and Troy Daniels there have stalled. Thaddeus Young, Kevin Martin and Chase Budinger are trade candidates, too.

Martin said he never thinks about such things. But Williams …

"I think about it every day," he said. "I have no clue. I haven't spoken with them. Neither have they spoken with me. The way I approach it is, every day I wake up and don't get a call, I'm here."

Friends in high places

Forward Anthony Bennett might be winning Saunders over. Saunders praised Bennett for his fourth-quarter play Sunday when he rebounded out of his area, moved the ball and made the extra pass. Bennett had two points and five rebounds in 16 minutes at Detroit.

"He's playing within his boundaries, which is helping us," Saunders said. "He's playing winning basketball, not 'me' basketball."

Etc.

• Preparing for the All-Star slam dunk contest, Wolves rookie guard Zach LaVine entered the media dining room pregame looking for a cookie and ended up meeting and shaking hands with former Atlanta star Dominique Wilkins, the Human Highlight Film and two-time dunk champion who is a Hawks TV analyst. Teammate Kevin Martin asked LaVine how it felt to be the second-best dunker in the arena Monday before adding, "Just like I'm the second-best shooter in the arena tonight," a reference to Atlanta's Kyle Korver. "You've got to know your place," Martin said.

• Both center Nikola Pekovic and Saunders have talked about him not playing back-to-back games on his troublesome ankle, but not this time. "I'm playing a little tired, but it's OK," Pekovic said.

• Roseville's Mike Muscala came to town Monday as a backup center for the league's second-best team. He was inactive.