Wolves must capitalize on soft stretch of schedule before mid-Feb gauntlet

Starting with Monday night's game against an injury-depleted Atlanta Hawks team, the Timberwolves have a chance to go on a bit of a run over the next couple weeks. And it's critical that they take advantage of this soft stretch of schedule, because they've got a gauntlet that starts in mid-February and continues after the All-Star break.

Having won two games in a row, the Wolves are 24-21. It's the seventh time this season they've been three games over .500. In each of the previous six, they lost the ensuing game. All they have to do to get four games over .500 for the first time is handle business at home against a Hawks team without Trae Young and Jalen Johnson.

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Here's a look at the next eight games on the schedule:

Jan 27: vs. Hawks (22-23)
Jan 29: at Suns (23-21)
Jan 30: at Jazz (10-33)
Feb 1: vs. Wizards (6-38)
Feb 3: vs. Kings (23-22)
Feb 5: vs. Bulls (19-27)
Feb 6: vs. Rockets (30-14)
Feb 8: vs. Blazers (17-29)

That's a combined record of 150-207 for those eight opponents. Six of the eight games are at home. Two of the eight are against the worst teams in the NBA by record, the Jazz and Wizards. Winning in Phoenix won't be easy, nor will beating the excellent Rockets on the second night of a back-to-back, but the Wolves should be favored in the other six contests. Outside of those two and the Kings game, there are five here that absolutely should be victories for Minnesota.

The goal for the Wolves must be to go at least 6-2 in this stretch. That's very doable if they play like they've been playing lately, particularly on the offensive end of the floor. The Wolves rank fourth in the NBA in offensive rating over the last two weeks and are coming off probably their best game of the season against the Nuggets on Saturday.

No. 4 offense in the nba over the past 2 weeks

Decent company to keep pic.twitter.com/h575uvuLqc
— Jace frederick (@JaceFrederick) January 26, 2025

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The reason it's important for Minnesota to take advantage of these next couple weeks is because of what lies ahead after that. Here's the seven-game stretch they've got that starts two weeks from tonight in Cleveland:

Feb 10: at Cavaliers (36-9)
Feb 12: vs. Bucks (25-18)
Feb 13: vs. Thunder (37-8)
Feb 21: at Rockets (30-14)
Feb 23: vs. Thunder (37-8)
Feb 24: at Thunder (37-8)
Feb 27: at Lakers (25-18)

That's seven straight games against teams currently at least seven games over .500, including four against the two best teams in the league. The combined record is 227-83. No, I don't know why the schedule-makers gave the Wolves a stretch of three matchups with the Thunder in four games around the All-Star Break, including two on the second leg of back-to-backs. What I do know is that even going 3-4 in that seven-game stretch would be a success for Minnesota.

Obviously, the Wolves have to take things one game at a time. But looking at the next month, the goals should be 6-2 in the next eight and at least 3-4 in the seven after that. That would be 9-6 in total and would put them at 33-27 through 60 games, which should keep them right in the thick of the race for a top-six seed (and no play-in tournament) in the ultra-competitive Western Conference.