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Blount, Garnett lead Timberwolves past Spurs

Jan 4, 2007 - 6:23 AM MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Behind Mark Blount and Kevin Garnett, the Minnesota Timberwolves again showed some character.

Blount scored a season-high 28 points and Garnett added 27 and 17 rebounds for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who posted their fifth win in seven games, a 103-101 overtime victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

After rebounding from a 20-point deficit in Monday's 102-96 triumph over the Charlotte Bobcats, the Timberwolves squandered a 17-point, third-quarter lead before hanging on for the win.

"Tonight's game was a good effort by the whole group," Minnesota coach Dwane Casey said. "I thought we showed a lot of resiliency in the fact that we lost the lead and didn't fold up the tent."

"It was a good game for us, kind of like I expected," Garnett said. "Defensively, both teams were making stops. ... We were able to pull out things we wanted to offensively. We moved the ball (and) passed the ball."

Blount opened overtime with an 18-foot jumper and combined with Randy Foye to score the session's first eight points for Minnesota, which took a 101-97 lead with 1:06 remaining.

"Everybody looks at it as Mark stepping up the last few games, but since I've been here, he's been doing that every day in practice," Foye said. "I mean, you cannot leave him open. He is knocking down shots in every way from every angle."

Manu Ginobili hit a free throw for the Spurs before Garnett went 2-for-2 from the foul line for a 103-98 advantage with 59 seconds to go.

Tony Parker sank three foul shots down the stretch for San Antonio, which hoped to have one final possession to force a second overtime. However, Trenton Hassell grabbed an offensive rebound after Ricky Davis missed a short jumper and the Timberwolves ran out the clock.

"The (last rebound) was big, but Trenton always comes up with rebounds like that," Foye said. "He knew the shot was going to be taken from there and he just snuck in and got the board."

"We had to dig out of that hole, which always takes a lot of energy, so that is disappointing," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "I was impressed with our fire and aggressiveness and our ability to just stay in the game and keep grinding it out the rest of the way."

After Tim Duncan sank a layup with 53 seconds left in regulation to put San Antonio in front, 91-90, Garnett converted a three-point play 19 seconds later to become the 51st player to score 18,000 career points.

"Against Garnett, it is always a great battle," Duncan said. "He is a heck of a competitor and a great player. It is always a lot of fun."

Ginobili tied the contest at 93-93 by hitting a layup with 28 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. Foye missed a short jumper for the Timberwolves and Matt Bonner failed to hit a 3-pointer in the final seconds of the period.

Blount made 12-of-14 shots, Foye scored 19 points and Hassell added 11 for the Timberwolves, who ended a five-game home losing streak against the Spurs.

"(Blount) was huge," Casey said. "We were spacing the floor. They were reluctantly doubling (Garnett). Kevin did a great job of finding players on the weak side."

Ginobili scored 26 points, Duncan added 24 and Parker 19 for San Antonio, which has lost two in a row for the first time since November 27-29.

"We started very slowly and they were making every shot, so we had to put in a lot of effort in the second half to come back," Ginobili said. "We did it and had a shot to win the game and missed it. In the overtime, it didn't happen."