<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">As if they were scanning a menu, looking for the most appetizing item under the "Fourteen Games To Go" section, the Timberwolves have ordered up a huge, sizzling winning streak. The way this year has gone, that dish is served one way: rare. It would seem a bit arrogant, indeed, for the Wolves to wax confident about season-saving hot streaks, having failed to go on one already. But desperation is the driving force here, not misguided confidence. On Sunday, the Wolves finished a seven-game stretch against teams that, at the start, were all playoff-bound. They emerged with a 3-4 record and 2? games between themselves and the final Western Conference playoff spot. As for what's needed to close that gap, the Wolves are, maybe for the first time all season, of the same mindset. Said guard Sam Cassell: "We have to go on a hell of a run right now. Eight-game winning streak, something like that." And guard Wally Szczerbiak: "We've got to string some together. This win one here, lose one here, win one, lose one there isn't going to work." And, finally, coach Kevin McHale: "In the NBA, you play 60 to be in position for the last 20. If you look, the teams that usually win and do well in the playoffs, they go 16-5, 15-4 (in the homestretch)." He's right: Denver has won 11 of 12 to create separation in the race for the eighth spot. But there is reason enough not to write the Wolves off just yet, even if the task ahead is dicey at best. Primarily, the schedule no longer brutalizes the Wolves. The next four games are against sub-.500 teams. Of the last 14, only five feature teams in either conference's playoff picture before Monday's games. Of those five games, three take place at Target Center. Seven of the final 14 are on the road, but only two road opponents currently have winning records. Denver, meanwhile, has three more home games before it enters a stretch in which it plays six of seven on the road ? culminating with an April 8 showdown against the Wolves at Target Center. After that, though, the Nuggets finish with five of seven at home. "We've got them coming into our place one more time, and that's going to be a huge game," Wolves guard Fred Hoiberg said. "But every game up to then is critical, as well. "Our schedule gets pretty good now. We've got some decent days off, some days to get guys healthy, and hopefully we can take advantage of that." Two and a half games seems like such a small hill to climb, a deficit that can be erased in a matter of two or three days. But the Wolves have been waiting for that turnaround all season.</div> Source
