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Balanced attack helps Timberwolves edge Spurs

Apr 18, 2013 - 6:42 AM San Antonio, TX (Sports Network) - Derrick Williams paced six Minnesota players in double figures with 21 points as the Timberwolves took down the San Antonio Spurs, 108-95 in the regular season finale at AT&T Center.

"I feel like I've been playing good," said Williams. "Just trying to go out on a strong note. It's good to go out with a win."

Chase Budinger dropped 15 points off the bench for Minnesota (31-51), which finished the season having won two of three. Greg Stiemsma and Ricky Rubio each added 12 points while Stiemsma also grabbed nine rebounds to go with a career-best five steals.

"I'm just really happy with the way we played," said Wolves coach Rick Adelman. "Second quarter they got too many points but the second half I thought we were really solid."

Tim Duncan scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and Gary Neal also added 17 points in the loss. Tony Parker connected on all nine of his free throw attempts en route to 15 points and eight assists as the Spurs (58-24) finished second in the Western Conference and will face the Los Angeles Lakers in the opening round of the postseason on Sunday.

"Just like any coach, you want to improve everything that you're doing," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "There isn't a whole lot of time between now and Sunday. We want to be healthier and we'll continue to work on executing on both ends of the court."

Despite the loss, the Spurs shot a perfect 22-of-22 from the foul line, 20 of which came in the first half.

Minnesota led for the duration of the fourth quarter, but San Antonio cut the deficit to five, 85-80, on a DeJuan Blair runner with 9:31 left in the game. However, Williams and Budinger sparked a 12-4 Minnesota run following Blair's basket to put the Wolves in charge for good.

The last lead the Spurs held came early in the third stanza on a Duncan dunk, his final basket of the game.

Parker notched the final 11 points for San Antonio before halftime as the Spurs led 61-56 at intermission.

Minnesota held the Spurs to 30 percent shooting and led 30-24 after the first frame. Rubio hit three triples and netted 11 of his 12 points.

Game Notes

Rubio finished the season second in the league in steals per game behind Chris Paul ... Manu Ginobili returned to the Spurs lineup after missing nine games with a hamstring injury ... Recently signed Tracy McGrady did not log any minutes for San Antonio.