Let the All-Star coaching countdown begin.

Nine days remain for the top teams in the Western and Eastern conferences to jockey for position and thereby send their head coaches to the NBA All-Star Game on Feb. 10 in Philadelphia. The coach whose team has the best record through next Sunday's games will go, unless he coached in last year's game (that eliminates Sacramento's Rick Adelman and Philadelphia's Larry Brown).

Through Friday night's games, the Timberwolves' Flip Saunders (28-10) was slightly behind the Lakers' Phil Jackson (27-9), and slightly ahead of the Spurs' Gregg Popovich (27-10) and the Mavericks' Don Nelson (27-12). Here are the team's remaining games and opponents before the Jan. 27 deadline:

? Wolves (5): at Golden State, Washington, at Detroit, at Toronto, Atlanta. Combined record of opponents: 85-104, .427.

? Lakers (5): at San Antonio, Denver, at L.A. Clippers, San Antonio, at Philadelphia. Record: 102-86, .543.

? Spurs (5): Lakers, New Jersey, at Utah, at Lakers, at Golden State. Record: 114-71, .616.

? Mavericks (5): Utah, New Jersey, at Houston, Denver, at L.A. Clippers. Record: 89-101, .468.

So while Saunders is the only one whose team has three road games in the next week, the Wolves' foes have the worst combined record.