Timberwolves 91 - 80 Pistons
Final
  for this game

Timberwolves defeat Pistons

Apr 20, 2012 - 4:17 AM Auburn Hills, MI (Sports Network) - Nikola Pekovic led all scorers with 23 points and added nine rebounds, and the Minnesota Timberwolves led wire-to- wire in a 91-80 defeat of the Detroit Pistons.

Anthony Randolph netted 15 points and grabbed 10 boards, J.J. Barea finished with 13 points and 12 assists and Michael Beasley contributed 13 points off the bench as Minnesota ended an 11-game losing streak.

"This one's big, it's good for out team," Barea said. "I think we defended and we had energy today, we moved the ball really good"

Tayshaun Prince scored 18 points and Will Bynum supplied 17, all in the fourth quarter, but the Pistons dropped their fourth in five tries.

The Wolves shot almost 57 percent from the floor in the first half while holding the Pistons to an anemic 28.6 percent, and took a 49-31 advantage into halftime, but the hosts made it interesting late.

With Minnesota holding its largest lead of the night at 78-55 at the 7:45 mark of the fourth quarter, Ben Gordon opened the rally with a basket. Bynum scored the game's next five points and his turnaround jumper a bit later made it 81-72.

Bynum continued his outburst in the final minute, driving for a layup before hitting a pullup jumper to trim Detriot's deficit to 85-80, its smallest since the opening seconds of the second.

But with under 40 seconds left the hosts had to foul, and the Timberwolves converted 6-of-6 from that point forward while Bynum committed two turnovers to seal the victory for Minnesota.

"It's hard playing catchup like that," said Bynum. "They did a great job, got out in front of us at the start, and it's tough after that."

Game Notes

The Timberwolves snapped a 27-game losing streak in April, winning in the month for the first time since April 8, 2009 at Golden State...Minnesota's Kevin Love missed his fifth straight game with a concussion...The Pistons completed a three-games-in-three-nights stretch in which they went 1-2...Minnesota shot 46.6 percent from the field. Detroit shot 36.3.






Related News