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Ginobili leads Spurs over Timberwolves

Apr 14, 2007 - 6:15 AM MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Manu Ginobili and the San Antonio Spurs inched closer to their second consecutive 60-win season and got some rest as well.

Ginobili scored 21 points in 21 minutes and the Spurs had their entire bench play double figure minutes en route to their sixth straight win, a 110-91 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Matt Bonner scored 18 points and Brent Barry added 13 off the bench for the Spurs (58-21), who are two games behind the Phoenix Suns (60-19) for the Western Conference's second playoff spot. Phoenix plays the Los Angeles Lakers later Friday.

San Antonio was dominant throughout, racking up five runs of 10-0 or more on its way to shooting over 50 percent (38-of-74) for the fourth straight game. The Spurs hit 14 3-pointers, just two shy of the club record.

"We played a good game," Ginobili said. "We moved the ball well so we're pretty satisfied. I was hoping to play a few more minutes to get some confidence because my shot was falling tonight."

Tim Duncan also played only 21 minutes and scored 12 points, including six during a 16-5 second-quarter run. Tony Parker played just 1:44 and did not have field goal attempt.

"Pop (San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich) decided to rest me tonight. I'm never against rest. The playoffs are coming next week so I don't care.

"It's great (to get that many minutes from our bench)," Parker said. "We've got three more games until the playoffs so we're going to try to rest your starters and get ready for the playoffs by being in the best shape we can. We're not going to take any risks in the last three games in terms of injuries."

Mike James scored 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting for the Timberwolves (32-47), who were without Kevin Garnett. The super star, who is out for the season, missed his second game with an injured right quadriceps.

"Obviously, not having Kevin Garnett makes a huge difference," Popovich said. "If we didn't have Tim Duncan, we'd look a little different too. I thought we had good energy and got after it pretty well. We are getting ready for the playoffs and we played pretty well."

"We didn't get a lot of open looks tonight," Timberwolves coach Randy Wittman said. "We had to do a lot off the dribble. We only had 10 assists on 36 baskets. That's not usual."